She was grafted by the marriage of her brother into North Dakota hockey royalty.
Even so, there were still a few family secrets that Madison Kolls was not yet privy to.
Such as the traditional games of shinny fought out by the six hockey-playing Lamoureux siblings out on the frozen pit behind the house in Grand Forks.
“I have yet to receive an invitiation,” said Kolls, a freshman on the Fighting Sioux blue line, who can send the speediest forward flying with a well-timed hip check. “I didn’t even know about those pond hockey games.”
There’s something just wrong about that.
After all, you need a strong defender to keep all that firepower, including twin sisters Jocelyn Lamoureux and Monique Lamoureux-Kolls, from sailing across the imaginary blue line.
And Kolls has shown herself, during her first year at NoDak, to be fully capable of putting the clamps on the WCHA’s most explosive forwards.
At least the ones not wearing NoDak green and white.
The proof in that cup of tapioca is the league’s Rookie of the Week award she picked up for her stellar play at both ends of the rink.
“It’s going really well,” said Kolls, who came to the Sioux from Shattuck-St. Mary’s, where she played with, among others, Minnesota freshman Amanda Kessel. “My first couple of games, I was nervous and a little apprehensive. Now with more games, it’s coming more naturally. Part of it is mental. But every aspect of the game is quicker, stronger, and more efficient. I’ve been making the transition a little quicker that (I expected).”
Kolls, who is majoring in pre-entrepreneurship (betcha didn’t know they had a department of yhat), committed to North Dakota two years ago, right about the time the twins were making the move from Minnesota to NoDak (with a trip to the Vancouver Olympics as a way to while away their sit-out year).
It was also right about the time that Kolls’ brother, Lance Corporal Taylor Kolls, was taking a shine to Monique during a USA Hockey national tournament in Philadelphia.
In fact Kolls, who was also competing in that tourney, feels that she deserves credit for fanning the sparks of romance into flame.
“I like to say that I’m the matchmaker,” she said. “We were both in the same hotel room. Taylor and Monique were the same age, so they started hanging out. He liked her, and she started liking him, too.”
Soon after, as the senior prom at Shattuck’s was approaching, Kolls reached into her bag of tricks for another Cupid’s arrow.
“I told Monique, ‘Hey, I think my brother likes you,'” she said, “‘You guys should go to the prom together.’ Then I would go and tell Taylor, ‘I think Monique likes you. I think you should ask her to the prom.’ I kind of went back and forth.”
As it happened, Monique did the asking, but in time, the Big Question was popped by Taylor.
The wedding was held in July, making Kolls, who was among the bridesmaids, a full fledged Lamoureux sister-in-law.
Whether or not that’s good enough to merit an invite to an exclusive game of pond hockey remains to be seen.
“I’ll have to get one,” she said. “Maybe I’ve already earned one.”
Oh, she has. She has.
NOTES: Kolls hails from Hudson, Wisc., which is just across the Mississippi River from the University of Minnesota. Yet, when it came time for Kolls to go school shopping, the Gophers were not among those in line.
“They just weren’t interested,” Kolls said. “I have no idea why (not). I never really talked to them. I’m happy with my decision, and with the way everything worked out.”
