DULUTH — After playing its first six games on the road over the first month of the season, the Minnesota Duluth women’s hockey program is finally coming home.
The Bulldogs host Minnesota State in WCHA play at 6 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Saturday at Amsoil Arena, and no one is looking forward to playing in Duluth more than UMD junior goaltender Eve Gascon and sophomore center Caitlin Kraemer.
Both of the Bulldogs’ stars have been living a double hockey life this season as Olympic hopefuls and NCAA student-athletes at UMD. They’re two of just three NCAA players — along with Minnesota defenseman Chloe Primerano — who are competing this season to make Canada’s Olympic women’s hockey team for the 2026 Winter Games in Italy.
Gascon joined Duluth News Tribune college hockey reporter Matt Wellens on the Bulldog Insider Podcast this week to share what the first month of her season has been like.
Here are edited excerpts from this week’s episode:
Matt Wellens: During the first 2-3 months of the season, have you spent more time away from Duluth on road trips with the Bulldogs and Canadian Olympic camps or more time in Duluth? Where have you been more?
Eve Gascon: Definitely away. I think, I honestly probably slept in my own bed for like five days in the last month. With all the travel with our team, too, it was a really busy month. It’s fun, but I’m happy to be back home and to be with my things.
Wellens: What have your commitments been like for for Hockey Canada? What has that schedule looked like so far?
Gascon: It’s been fun. We have four training blocks. We had one a month ago and then the one last week. The next one is at the end of October, so in two weeks. Every two weeks we have camp, and we’re trying to figure out school, so that’s pretty hard. I’m not going to school a lot, but it’s a fun experience, and they’re really flexible with it, too.
Wellens: What do these pre-Olympic camps all involve? What goes on? Is each one similar? Are they unique?
Gascon: Well, the first one, it was pretty unique. The first week was the pre-Olympic orientation, so we had the men’s team and the para (paralympic) team. The first week we were meeting with the guys from the other teams and had dinner. Then after that it’s technically a week to train and practice as a team. Especially with the PWHL players, they don’t have their season yet, so they’re just practicing and we’re playing games. It’s really just to get to know each other as a team, train together. Of course there’s evaluation, too, but it’s mostly to train and practice.
Minnesota Duluth goaltender Ève Gascon (1) watches the game against St. Cloud State on Saturday, Jan. 11 at Amsoil Arena in Duluth.
Clint Austin / File / Duluth Media Group
Wellens: What’s it like working with Hockey Canada so that you can live this dual life right now as an Olympic hopeful and college athlete?
Gascon: It’s fun. It’s hard, to be honest. The thing I like is we have training and then practice in the morning. Then after that, you have your whole day when you’re at camp, so I can do my homework and just try to catch up with what I miss. But also for them to be flexible, it helped me go to some of my classes a little bit. That’s nice.
Minnesota Duluth goaltender Ève Gascon (1) leaves the ice in the final minute of the game against Minnesota on Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, at Amsoil Arena in Duluth.
Clint Austin / File / Duluth Media Group
It’s fun for them to understand our situation, as well. It’s not common with all the PWHL players who don’t have school. They’re training, practicing and then their day is done, but for us, we have to catch up with school. It’s a stressful time, for sure, but I think we have to look at the bigger picture. We’re going to remember those moments later in life and be like, ‘Yeah, that was crazy.’ It’s fun that they’re being flexible with us and they understand.
Wellens: Normally, you wouldn’t be with the Bulldogs. You and Caitlin, if you’re in contention for the Olympic team, you wouldn’t be here. But it’s a unique season. The Canadian and American teams, they’re not centralized like they were in the past, so college players are going back and forth. This is new for everyone involved.
Would you have rather taken a sabbatical from college? Are you enjoying doing the dual life right now?
Gascon: I’m enjoying it. I had this thought in my head. When I got the call, the coach was like, ‘We’re going to let you make a decision whether to take the year off.’ Because they know it’s a lot, but at the end of the day, you don’t know if you’re going to make the team. If I took a year off and then in December, I know that I’m not making the team, then I’m like …
Wellens: What do you do the rest of the year?
Gascon: Yeah, you’re sad that you don’t make the team and then you don’t have anything else. So I think that was my process. I’m 22 years old, too. I don’t want to finish college at 25, as well. I wanted to play and I wanted to just be there with the team, with my friends and stuff. I was just thinking, I can do this. I can travel and then come back and just making sure I stay on top of my things.
I had the thought of taking the year off, but I think at the end of the day, it’s better for me to continue to play. You never know what’s going to happen, so I think it’s better for me to play.
Check out the full episode for more from Eve Gascon. You can find the Bulldog Insider Podcast at
DuluthNewsTribune.com/BulldogInsider
, and on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes drop Thursdays throughout the UMD men’s and women’s hockey seasons.