March 23, 2003 — the game of the century for women’s college hockey. 

The recent birth of Olympic women’s hockey had spawned an NCAA Championship game with unprecedented star power: eight Olympians from four nations elevated the Minnesota Duluth lineup; three Kazmaier Award winners shined up Harvard’s. The combined rosters had acquired enough gold and silver from Nagano (1998) and Salt Lake (2002) to burst the seams of Harry Potter’s Gringotts Wizarding Bank.

The game’s first five minutes produced nothing but tension until Duluth junior Jenny Potter — already a veteran of two Olympic Games — got on the ice for her second shift. She carried the puck into the attacking zone, creating just enough time and space for linemate Caroline Oullette to sprint past her check. The two completed hockey’s version of an alley-oop pass, a slam dunk goal that broke the skein, creating a wave of energy that didn’t subside until the Bulldogs’ celebration in double overtime.

US HHOF inductee Jen Potter feeds @UMDWHockey teammate Caroline Ouellete to open scoring in 2003 NCAA Championship pic.twitter.com/U0YQvckkuv

— Tim Rappleye (@teeraps) November 9, 2020

Duluth’s devastating Olympic tandem of Potter (gold and silver for the U.S.) and Ouellette (silver and gold for Canada) were too much for Harvard this day, and for anyone else that season. 

“Their skill set, intelligence, and willingness to share the puck made them one of the best duos in the country,” said UMD coach Shannon Miller, who guided the Bulldogs to their third straight national title that afternoon. A generation later the memories are still fresh. 

“That was an unbelievable game,” said Potter. “The biggest moment in my life was the birth of my children. That was probably number two.”

The 2003 championship was a loud drumbeat in the WCHA’s conga line of utter dominance, when Duluth, Wisconsin, and Minnesota combined to win 13 straight national titles. A revolving door of five-ring talent powered those programs. Recently inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame, Potter knows that her four Olympic journeys would not have been possible without the benefit of playing in college hockey’s royal circuit.

“It was a great honor to represent the WCHA,” said Potter between ice sessions at her family business Potter Performance Group. “I was surrounded by great teammates and great coaches. Internationally it helped me grow as a player.”

In her senior year, Potter fell short of an NCAA repeat, as her college career was ended by the University of Minnesota in 2004. The Gophers were led by scoring stars Krissy Wendell and Natalie Darwitz, Potter’s Olympic teammates from Salt Lake. Despite that affinity, their games were so fierce that play often bordered on bedlam. In Potter’s final regular season game at Minnesota, she was front and center in a maelstrom that saw 31 penalties called, including a first-period dustup between her and Darwitz that saw them both earn double-minors for roughing.

“It got heated right away,” said Potter with a chuckle, “it was pretty intense, something that wasn’t unusual.” 

USA Olympic coach Ben Smith knew all about the WCHA wars that helped steel his national team for their truculent trysts with Canada. 

“The Gophers and the Bulldogs were always at each other’s throats,” said Smith. “Those were epic battles.” 

Potter left a remarkable legacy in the WCHA: in three seasons at Duluth, she rang up a school-record 256 points in 102 games; she was named to the league’s All-Decade and 20th Anniversary Team.

Potter’s future greatness was almost unimaginable when she showed up at the 1997 Olympic Festival in Lake Placid. Little Jenny was a shy 18-year-old that barely eclipsed five feet. 

“She had come through our summer camps,” said Smith, who figured she might be a candidate for 2002 based on her skating. Then he noticed her work habits. 

“She would always be first in line, annoyingly so to her teammates, which made me like her right away. With Jenny, it’s all hockey all the time — she would practice as long as I kept a whistle in my hand.”

By the time Team USA got to Nagano for the inaugural women’s Olympics, the little winger from Minneapolis would never again be anonymous. 

“She was so thorough,” said Smith. “Her skating and puck skills were so strong, she was just a pure hockey machine.” 

Jenny chipped in a pair of goals and five points in the USA’s historic gold medal run in 1998. Potter finished her prolific Olympic playing career with 32 points over four Winter Games, both USA Hockey records.

But to boil down the essence of Jenny Potter, you have to leave the bright lights for the great outdoors. She grew up as a rink rat at Lewis Park in Edina, never playing organized hockey until she was 14 years old. 

“I basically lived there,” said Potter. “A lot of ex-NHL North Star players would come down, Bobby Smith and some of these players I would play with.”

One of coach Ben Smith’s favorite stories is about Potter’s response to his grueling two-a-day practice regimens up in Lake Placid. There is a miniature rink tucked into the northwest corner of the outdoor speed skating oval on East Main Street known to locals as the “Hockey Box.” As Smith headed off to dinner, he would spy little Jenny in the Box, skating, dangling, and shooting in the fading light. This may sound like a tall tale from Smith, a man known for spinning hockey yarns.

“No, it’s true,” said Potter. “There’s nothing better than skating outside playing pickup hockey. Any time I had an opportunity to do it, I did it.”

Smith is a hockey lifer who has encountered the best NCAA, World Junior and Olympic players — men and women — our country has produced over the last half century. He’s yet to meet anyone with the hockey heart of Jenny Potter. 

“I’ve never come across a player where their love of the game is greater,” said Smith after careful consideration. “I’d want her on any team I’ve ever coached.”

Tim Rappleye is the author of two books: Jack Parker's Wiseguys and Hobey Baker, Upon Further Review. You can find him on Twitter.