Three Holy Family girls hockey players — seniors Kayla Swartout, Katya Sander and Maddy Kimbrel — sat shoulder-to-shoulder at the Victoria Rec Center after a December practice.

They know there is plenty of high school hockey left to play as Holy Family, undefeated at 13-0-0 and ranked No. 1 in the state for the first time in program history, chases its first Class 2A championship. But for a moment, they talked about after.

“We’ll still be friends, hopefully,” said Sander, a future Minnesota Gopher.

Swartout and Kimbrel, a pair of Wisconsin commits, burst into incredulous laughter. “Wait, whoa, whoa. Hopefully?”

The trio of forward Kimbrel, defender Sander and goaltender Swartout make up three-quarters of the state’s four seniors committed to the Minnesota and Wisconsin women’s hockey programs. Warroad’s standout goaltender Payton Rolli will join Sander with the Gophers.

It’s not rare for Minnesota high school players to commit to Division I programs, including the home-state Gophers and their rivals in Madison.

But for three senior teammates to be committed to the two winningest women’s hockey programs, which belong in any conversation about college hockey’s greatest rivalries? Now, that might turn heads.

‘I’m not going to go easy on you’

When asked to ponder whether it will be strange to play against former teammates in college, Sander and Swartout launched into a story.

“Today, a teacher came up to us and was like,” Sander started, and Swartout finished for her: “ ‘It’s going to be weird. You guys are going to be rivals, yeah?’ ”

“He pointed to me. He was like, ‘You might be scoring on her,’ ” Sander said.

It’s a new concept for a pair who worked together to send Holy Family to the state tournament for the first time last year, upsetting top-ranked Minnetonka in the section championship before placing third in Class 2A.

But as Kimbrel waited for her teammates to finish, she smiled and shook her head.

“I mean, if I’m playing against you, I want to beat you,” she said. The threat is real, as Kimbrel has a team-high 21 goals and 12 assists this year. “Like in practice, we’re all a team, but I’m not going to go easy on you.”

“On the ice, it will be easier,” Swartout admitted.

That competitive fire has paid dividends for the Fire. This year’s senior class is one of the most talented to graduate from the Fire program since Holy Family, a private Catholic school in Victoria, split its co-op with Waconia ahead of the 2018-19 season.

Kimbrel, Swartout and Sander are three of its 10 seniors, seven of whom are committed to Division I hockey programs.

Swartout, the Fire’s starting goaltender since her sophomore year, is a unanimously elected captain with a 95.1 save percentage, five shutouts and “a perfect attitude,” said Fire coach Randy Koeppl.

Sander was a promising freshman forward who converted to the blue line as a sophomore after the Fire’s defensive coach, Dusty Anderson, saw potential in Sander’s vision, acceleration, size and shot.

Koeppl recounted the offer to Sander: “You can be a really, really good forward, or I think you can be one of the best D in the country.” (And she is — she will represent the U.S. at January’s Under-18 Women’s World Championship, alongside Kimbrel.)

Kimbrel transferred to Holy Family after four seasons at Orono, reaching the Class 1A state semifinals each year and totaling 146 points.

“[I just want to] bring the intensity every day,” Kimbrel said. “Coming into this team, there’s a lot of really good players. ... Whatever role that needed to be filled, I was going to be willing to fill that.”

Border battle ties

A history of excellence — not just geography — pit Minnesota and Wisconsin women’s hockey against one another. The Gophers have won six national titles, the latest in 2016. That trophy haul is second in NCAA Division I only behind reigning champ Wisconsin, which has eight national titles, including four since 2019.

The No. 3-ranked Gophers are the only team to have beaten the No. 1-ranked Badgers this season.

Kimbrel, who said she felt immediately at home with the team and on campus during her visit to Madison, announced her college choice in September 2024, followed by Swartout that November.

“It was still my process and where I wanted to go, which [team] best fit me,” Swartout said. “But it definitely was exciting then for me, because I knew I was going to have a teammate and a built-in friend.”

Sander, who grew up going to Gophers games at Ridder Arena, committed in March 2025. She had considered exploring Ivy League programs, but she said the Gophers, her first recruiting call, were “super personable, and they’re really committed to me and my development,” setting up Sander with a film coach to keep honing her defensive IQ.

Before recruiting had begun, Kimbrel, not yet a teenager, had caught her eye on a comfy red Badgers sweatshirt at Scheels. But her dad told her, “You’re not getting any Wisconsin gear unless you commit to play hockey there.”

A few years later, he’s warmed up to the idea with a pair of Badgers socks and a baseball cap. “If he has a sweatshirt, it’s black, because he can’t go to the red yet,” Kimbrel said.

Swartout said her first goalie coach, former Gophers goaltender Shyler Sletta, told her, “‘I’ll only put a W on for you.’”

It’s Sander’s family with the Badgers ties; her dad pole vaulted and played football for Wisconsin before going on to attend Minnesota’s medical school. He once offered Sander his old Wisconsin letterman jacket for a school spirit “Dress Like Your Favorite Team” day, which Sander politely declined.

Kimbrel was accepted into Wisconsin’s business school, Swartout hopes to one day get her pilot’s license, and Sander is eyeing medical school, though she said it might be a tough juggle with playing hockey as long as she can, hopefully into the pros.

“Hey — Claire Thompson,” Kimbrel reminded Sander, referencing the former Minnesota Frost player who paused her med school studies to play in the Professional Women’s Hockey League.

The pipeline from Badgers and Gophers to the pros is a strong one, though it may feel a ways off for skaters trying to take their senior year one game at a time.

But Swartout pointed out that it was just last year that watching her future college win a national title “felt like when you’re a little kid watching high school. You’re watching the big girls.”

“It’s so much different than high school hockey,” Kimbrel said, “just like the pace of play and the amount of time and space you have.”

“Now watching, more this year,” Swartout said. “It’s like, ‘That’s me, in a year.’ ”