JANESVILLE, Wisconsin -- A line of people queued up more than an hour before puck drop outside the Janesville Ice Arena and would eventually stand three-to-four deep at the glass behind the net on one end of the ice Friday night. It was a couple hundred more people than would usually take in a Janesville Jets NAHL game, especially as the season winds down with the team is out of playoff contention. There was a palpable buzz around the team and the rink for what would have been an otherwise unremarkable game on the final home weekend for the Jets. 

Hey friends, I'm in Janesville for Annelies Bergmann's start with the NAHL @JanesvilleJets1

There was a line outside waiting to get in when I got here pic.twitter.com/YDDkTjqv2b

— Nicole Haase (@NicoleHaase) April 7, 2023

For a few minutes this past week and again when the puck dropped for Friday’s game, this town 75 miles southwest of Milwaukee was the center of the hockey universe as 17-year-old goaltender Annelies Bergmann made history by becoming the first woman to play in a regular-season game for a Tier I or II junior hockey team in the United States.

There was no doubt in the mind of anyone within the Jets organization that Bergmann had earned the opportunity and would be able to handle herself. She joined the Jets for a week prior to Friday’s start, practicing with the team and living with a billet family. The Jets had hoped to bring Bergmann in earlier in their season and owner Bill McCoshen said if the team were in playoff contention, he’d have gotten her to Janesville sooner. 

Instead, they were able to wait for timing to be right for the Jets to exercise the affiliate tag they’d put on her over the summer. The team added Bergmann to their affiliate list after she stood out and quickly moved from a chance to test the waters in goalie camp to being involved in the team's main tryout camp. While there, she earned one of four goalie invites to the camp's all-star game. 

“She earned the opportunity and we’re proud to give it to her. I want her to treat it as another game in her development process,” McCoshen said. 

Bergmann had anticipated the call to come play for Janesville and had prepared for another big game in a career that has already been full of them. But even all-world goalies are human.

“Last night I would say is when the nerves hit me,” Bergmann said following Friday night's game. “I was just trying to get everything ready and all my superstitions taken care of, but going into the day, after the first couple minutes, you get a couple shots under you and then you don't feel the nerves.”

A strong defense by the Jets had prevented any pucks getting to Bergmann for several minutes at the start of the game, but as play picked up, she quickly showed that their confidence was justified.

What. A. Snag. @Abergy43 pic.twitter.com/5CSPvaSuOa

— Nicole Haase (@NicoleHaase) April 8, 2023

After a couple of routine saves, she seemingly casually snagged a shot with her glove hand off a breakaway that brought the crowd to life. That, coach Joe Dibble said, proved to anyone still in doubt that Bergmann is very capable of playing at this level. 

“[Annelies] gave us a chance to win; she kept us in it to the end,” he said.

Overall, she stopped 22 of 24 shots faced and stopped all 22 shots put on her at even strength. Two blue-line turnovers on the power play led to shorthanded breakaways for Springfield that they converted on. Bergmann got a touch on the puck on the second goal - a two on one - that she said after the game she really wanted back. The Jets pulled one goal back in the second period but struggled to find the back of the net despite outshooting Springfield 47-24.

“We left her out to dry for two of those goals and besides those breakaways we let up, she stood on her head. I think she deserved to win, and it sucks we couldn't get that for her, but she played really well and obviously is capable of playing in this league,” said Jets captain Jimmy Doyle.

Bergmann found that what she’s relied on throughout her career playing with and against boys from her age group translated to her first foray into junior hockey.

“My speed allows me to do this, that's always been one of my strengths,” Bergmann said. “I'm not as big as some of the guys out there, but I'm pretty big for a girl and so to be able to just stop was 22 out of 24 I think was pretty good.”

Despite the outcome, Dibble said he would never forget the night and that he’ll remember it for the rest of his career. He said he told Bergmann after the game that she’s part of the Jets forever now. 

A lot of things had to come together for Bergmann to have the opportunity to make history in what her dad Peter called the ideal situation with the Jets. The enormity of all the hard work by Annelies herself as well as all those who’d supported her in her push to continue to reach the highest levels of the game was on mom Megan’s mind. 

“I’m in awe of her,”  Megan Bergmann said. 

“One thing that's awesome about an experience like this, is it makes you think about all the people who contributed to get her here today. I wish they could all be in the stands.”

There has been no blueprint for how to support and guide their daughter, Megan said. There have been times where she wishes there were people she could ask for guidance as her daughter trailblazed on her own, playing at the highest levels of youth hockey within USA Hockey’s system, often as the only girl on her team. She has learned that the advice they gave Annelies when she was a young goalie has really held up and kept any of them from overcomplicating things. 

“The goal is just to save the next puck,” said Megan Bergmann. 

Annelies was one of eight women to sign on as the first women’s hockey players to be represented by CAA Sports. Max Giese, Janesville’s first scout who went on to work as an amateur scout for the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets, is now an agent at CAA. It was Giese who reached out to the Janesville Jets to suggest bringing her into camp. 

That’s where Annelies displayed not only the talent to earn her spot on the team, but a maturity beyond her 17 years in not only understanding the impact she could make, but also handling the media spotlight that came with it. That poise immediately stood out to goalie Selby Warren, who had been Bergmann’s goalie partner at camp last summer and was her backup on Friday.

“I learned a lot from her. The way she carries herself at such a young age - there’s a lot of pressure on her, but she adapted so quickly. I was just blown away by how nice of a person she is. She is a perfect person for all these kids to look up to. Her preparation day to day is just phenomenal. She doesn't get flustered at all. She doesn't really get upset. She just lets the game come to her,” he said. 

In the first period of Friday’s game, a Springfield forward skated into Bergmann and pushed her back into the net, but Warren said he loved that she kept her composure, didn’t back down and then played even bigger after it happened. 

A Springfield player crashed the net and the Jets were not pleased pic.twitter.com/8xtzOioHic

— Nicole Haase (@NicoleHaase) April 8, 2023

Her dad says plays like that get Bergmann riled up. They have a very competitive household and Annelies is the youngest of three, with two older brothers. She has a fierceness and a drive to always win according to her parents. Peter admitted to being the parent that didn’t want his child playing goalie, so the idea of his daughter in this situation was disconcerting at first.

“This is her element. I was very nervous coming into the game, but once I saw her on the ice, I relaxed. This is what she does, she’ll be fine,” Peter Bergmann said. 

Annelies said she felt fully prepared for everything she faced in the game and gave credit to Warren and goalie coach Larry Clemens, as well as the rest of the team, for equipping her well. Other than the outcome, the game lived up to the hype and the experience was everything she hoped it would be. Her parents say that’s down to the Jets. 

“It’s a tribute to the team - this unique set of boys here that really accepted her as part of the team,” Megan Bergmann said. 

For Annelies, playing with the Jets just renewed her belief that the sky's the limit for what she can accomplish if she is determined and works hard. 

Before the puck dropped, she looked around the packed arena and soaked in what she described as the incredible feeling of breaking boundaries, seeing the faces of young girls looking back at her. 

“I always wanted to play in a league that no other girl has. I feel like I put myself out there today and showed that I deserved to be on the ice. It’s incredible. This is what I've really been dreaming of since I was little, so to go out there and be able to do this is just indescribable,” she said. 

“I knew it was something bigger than myself. It felt like I was accomplishing something great. It was just a hockey game out there. I wasn’t a girl goalie. I was just another hockey goalie.”