Raiders defenseman Chelsea Jacques sets to transition up the ice during a game this past season at the Class of 1965 Arena in Hamilton, New York. (Colgate Athletics photo)

On the weekend of March 16-18, the NCAA Division I Women’s Frozen Four took place in Minneapolis, Minnesota, at Ridder Arena. In an interesting twist, two teams from the WCHA and two teams from the ECAC made it to Minneapolis, with one from each conference squaring off with one from the other in the semifinals.

In the first game, No. 1 Clarkson downed Ohio State 1-0 in overtime to qualify for the title game. The second game featured overtime, this time double, as No. 3 Colgate knocked off No. 2 Wisconsin, 4-3.

The battle between the Badgers and the Raiders carried interest locally for reasons other than the fact that it was a hockey game. The matchup featured a pair of athletes from the Upper Peninsula in the Badgers’ Abby Roque of Sault Ste. Marie and the Raiders’ Chelsea Jacques of Calumet.

For Jacques, whose Raiders are located in Hamilton, New York, the game meant far more than a chance at a national championship. It was an opportunity in front of her friends and family, including her grandmother, to make the six-hour drive to see her play.

“They made the trip and made a weekend out of it,” Jacques said. “They said they weren’t going to miss it for the world. That meant the world to me. You want to share those things with your family.”

The hockey world is a small one. Jacques met Roque for the first time at a select festival a number of years ago.

“I know Abby a little bit from playing at the Michigan development camps,” Jacques said. “I think that is where I first met her. I, of course, watched her play against the local high school teams.”

She did not know much about Roque, but had heard about the eastern U.P. star from her parents. Her dad, Shane, and her uncle, Sean, had gone to school in Calumet with Roque’s mother, Julia.

The two standout players took different paths to college hockey. Jacques switched from the boys’ game to the girls’ game in seventh grade when she joined the Keweenaw Storm. The Storm program has been a highly successful one that has produced a number of college athletes with a handful of Division I players and a number of Division III skaters as well.

Roque, on the other hand, stuck with the boys game, eventually spending a couple of seasons with the Sault Ste. Marie Blue Devils, helping the Blue Devils win a 2015 regional title.

“I think it was the best decision,” she said. “I was trying to decide if I should go to girls hockey as the guys get bigger and stronger, but I stuck with boys hockey for that first year and decided that was really the best option for me because they really pushed me and made me a better player.”

The daughter of former Lake Superior State head coach Jim Roque has had a strong start to her college career with 69 points through her first two seasons with the traditionally strong Badgers, earning WCHA Rookie of the Year honors along the way before taking advantage of more ice time this year with some teammates gone for Olympic workouts.

“My freshman year, I came in and wasn’t sure if I was going to play a lot,” Roque said. “I was lucky enough to play a good amount of time.”

Jacques has just eight career points, but she has been part of a tremendous turnaround for the Raiders under head coach Greg Fargo.

The year before Jacques joined the Raiders, they went just 7-25-2 overall, the worst year in school history as the program failed to win at least 10 games for the first time. As Fargo entered his fourth season with the Raiders, he set a plan in motion, one that would see him honored as the USCHO.com Coach of the Year.

Jacques became a part of that plan, and she feels honored to have been included.

“He’s an unbelievable coach,” Jacques said. “He makes coming to the rink every day fun. I am happy to be here and he is the reason why. It is amazing playing for him. He definitely deserves to be the national coach of the year.”

Teams around the country have taken notice of what Fargo and the Raiders have accomplished in three years, and schools have begun to try to emulate their success.

In the semifinal, Jacques and the Raiders were able to hold Roque to just one assist while forcing overtime with the game tied, 3-3. With a power play in the extra session, the Raiders were about to get a bounce to go their way to earn a hard-fought victory.

While the Raiders did fall to 2-1 in the championship game to Clarkson in another overtime contest, Jacques and her teammates had much to be proud of, setting new school records along the way.

With the success of both U.P. natives, girls hockey is proving to be a viable path for younger athletes. Jacques’ former teammate, Maybelline Beiring, is now playing at Brown, is one of at least six local ladies playing college hockey at some level.

“Even in the U.P., the game is growing for women,” Roque said. “More and more girls are playing now, and I think that’s really special because when I was playing, I think there were three girls from my town playing, and I think I am the only who finished out high school still playing.”

UP COMMITTEE

The NCAA Women’s Ice Hockey Committee was in attendance throughout the weekend as Jacques and Roque battled it out on the ice. This year’s committee was made up of three women and one male in Michael Siste from Mercyhurst.

Two of the women on the committee played hockey locally before earning scholarships to play Division I hockey. Sarah (Hood) Fraser, a L’Anse native, played her college hockey at Dartmouth. Abby Strong, a Houghton native, played two seasons each at Findlay and North Dakota.

Both were involved in the postgame ceremony after the championship game.