Maddy Kimbrel uses the free period at the end of her school day to get a jump start on her college future. However, her self-organized “study hall” looks a little different from that of her senior classmates at Holy Family Catholic, minus one.

Arriving early to a hockey practice this month, the forward dumped out a five-gallon bucket of pucks, alone on the ice at the Victoria Rec Center.

Otherwise quiet and focused, Kimbrel raised her voice for the first time since arriving at the rink, calling out a friendly “Run!” in greeting when the door swung open.

She was eager to squeeze in a half-hour of shooting practice on future Wisconsin Badgers teammate and All-Minnesota goaltender Kayla Swartout, who shared Kimbrel’s free period this semester.

In the fall, Kimbrel was on her own, ripping puck after puck ahead of a historic season for Holy Family girls hockey.

“We get competitive,” Kimbrel admitted. “It’s fun to get to know her, and fun to score on her.”

Fire coach Randy Koeppl called Kimbrel’s grit an “Olympic mentality,” a rare quality he sees only in an elite handful of players. It’s how she scored 35 goals, tallied 19 assists and helped Holy Family (24-3) reach its first No. 1 state ranking in December, and part of why she is this year’s All-Minnesota Girls Hockey Player of the Year.

“She refuses to lose,” Koeppl said, “and when she does, she comes back again and again and again.”

Holy Family was already coming off its best year, having placed third in its first trip to the Class 2A state tournament last February. Then Kimbrel transferred and joined the Fire after four seasons, 146 points and four trips to the Class 1A state tournament with Orono.

“It’s a little nerve-racking meeting a new team, especially because our Orono group was so close,” Kimbrel said. “But I think I was just excited to play hockey and do what I love with a new group and build new friendships and work hard.”

Koeppl said he didn’t know Kimbrel before she joined the Fire, with the exception of having to figure out how to coach against her. He warned her he would coach her hard. Kimbrel wanted that, looking forward to “growth going into next year, development and being pushed a lot in practice and in games,” she said. “The harder schedule is a plus.”

Case in point: the Fire’s 5-4 double-overtime victory over fellow top-five squad Minnetonka in the Class 2A, Section 2 championship game. Kimbrel opened the scoring for the Fire and set up the team’s second goal with a return to state on the line.

Twenty of Kimbrel’s team-high 35 goals came against teams in the top 25 of the state rankings, as did 13 of her 19 assists. She recorded four multigoal games against top-10 teams and a hat trick in the Fire’s section semifinal. Her 2.35 points per game were good for seventh in the state.

Even in top-ranked matchups packed with lines of Division I talent, Kimbrel’s speed stands out. In one recent game, she skated so hard that she blew multiple rivets off the bottom of one skate.

“I just loved it, just fell in love with it,” Kimbrel said, recalling flying fast as she learned to play hockey on her backyard pond.

As quick as Kimbrel is on the ice, she might be quicker to deflect attention.

Koeppl said that ahead of Senior Night, the Fire’s 10 seniors lined up and slung long-range empty-netters to decide the team’s starters. Kimbrel was the first to score, and the first to pull him aside afterward and tell him someone else could take her spot.

Kimbrel was an alternate captain for this year’s U.S. under-18 world championship team, improving on last year’s silver medal with gold this go-round. But, coming into a Fire program that already had nine seniors, Kimbrel doesn’t wear a letter for the Fire.

“It doesn’t stop her because she leads by example,” Koeppl said. “She’s not a ‘rah-rah’ type of kid, but when she speaks, they listen.”

If Kimbrel is using her free period to “study up” on hockey, then the Fire youngsters, including seven freshmen on the playoff roster, use the minutes before practice begins to study Kimbrel.

Since sophomore year, Kimbrel has ritually ended practice by skating a full-out rep from one end of the rink to the other and back. Now, she doesn’t line up alone at the end of practice.

“Half of our team does it, most of the younger kids,” Koeppl said. “They look at her differently.”

“There are no secrets,” Koeppl said, gesturing to Kimbrel as others joined her and Swartout on the ice for warmups. The reasons for her success, “It’s all right there.”