PLYMOUTH, Mich. — For a long time, there was nothing you could tell Amanda Kessel to make her believe she was going to feel better.
The woman who had been in the conversation as the best hockey player in the world had been battling a concussion she sustained just before the 2014 Olympics, and it kept her off the ice for nearly two years.
“I tried to tell myself that I’d be back, but I definitely doubted it at points,” Kessel said, after her Team USA beat Russia to move to 2-0 at the IIHF Women’s World Championship, where they’re the lone undefeated team in Group A.
“When it got close to a year and a half, two years, I wasn’t sure. I kept thinking I’ll play in the next Olympics, I’ll be there,” Kessel said. “As the days went on, it kinda seemed less and less likely.”
Well, the 25-year-old from Madison, Wis., is not only back with Team USA, but on Saturday, Kessel scored her first goal for the American team in more than three years, and it stood as the winner in a 7-0 victory over Russia. She also added an assist.
“I feel like I got a monkey off my back,” a grinning Kessel said, still wearing her U.S. jersey, following the victory. “You’re kinda itching for that first one to give you some confidence. But with every game, I feel better and better.”
It had been 1,139 days—that’s three years, one month and 15 days—since Kessel last scored for Team USA, when she struck in a 6-1 victory over Sweden at the last Olympics.
On Saturday, Kessel used her speed to tear up the wing after getting a chip pass up the ice near the end of an American penalty kill. She dished off a saucer pass to defenceman Monique Lamoureux, who was charging toward the Russian net. Kessel jumped on Lamoureux’s rebound and fell while she put it in, then found herself underneath a Russian player who’d fallen on top of her.
“I think I broke a Russian stick, actually,” Kessel said, grinning. “It just sorta snapped.”
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Despite the fact the game ended 7-0—the Americans scored three times in the third, including twice in the final minute just 14 seconds apart—the Russians held them off until the last couple minutes of the first period, when Kessel struck.
“I was just happy,” she said. “It was good for our team to get one.”
Good for Kessel, too. She played for the U.S. in a two-game series against Canada last December, but didn’t find the net, and before that, in November, she had to miss the Four Nations Cup with a lower-body injury.
“She’s one of the most skilled forwards I’ve ever played with,” said Brianna Decker, who leads the Americans with five points (3 goals, 2 assists) in two games. “She moves the puck and has the vision that not a lot of people do, so it’s good to have her back on the ice.”
Friday’s 2-0 win against Canada marked Kessel’s first time in an American jersey at a major international competition since the last Olympics.
In the National Women’s Hockey League this past season, Kessel had 18 points (4 goals, 14 assists) over eight regular season games with the New York Riveters—an injury kept her out of the lineup early in the season. She was also named the all-star game’s MVP.
Kessel won her third NCAA title with the Minnesota Gophers last March, scoring the winner against Boston College—her 11th goal in 13 games since she returned from her concussion.
The last time she played a full season for Minnesota, in 2012-13, she led her team to a 41-0 season and a national title, and she was widely regarded as the best player in college hockey, if not the world. Then came the concussion, and almost two years without playing before she got medical clearance to return.
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Kessel says she didn’t talk to many people when she was dealing with her concussion, aside from the three of four doctors she saw, and close friends like Team USA’s Kelli Stack.
“I don’t think people can really understand or relate to what you’re going through,” Kessel said. “I think people that have had long-term concussions can, but for other people in life it’s difficult for them to really understand why you’re never happy, or why you feel so bad every day.
“It was mostly doctors that gave me any hope that I had, it was coming from them. I think sometimes people get scared to reach out when you’re going through something tough. What I realized is you do appreciate any little text here or there.”
It wasn’t until October of 2015 that Kessel got back on the ice and felt good again. “I started working out, a new doctor I was seeing gave me confidence that I would be fine. It was something I had to push through for months.”
Said Decker: “It kills me as a teammate to see someone go through that.”
Kessel, who’s been dynamic on the right wing here alongside Kelly Pannek and Jocelyne Lamoureux, will only improve as the tournament continues.
“With every game, I feel better and better,” she said.
That’s not only good for Kessel, and for an American team looking to win its fourth straight world title, but it’s good for women’s hockey to have one of its biggest stars rounding back into form.
“I think just getting a couple more games under her belt, she’s gonna settle in that much more,” Decker said.
“She’s just been outstanding,” added American coach Robb Stauber. “She’s been a great player for a long time, and to be able to stay at that level, coming out of college and the last Olympics, and being able to stay at a really high level is not that easy. But you can see just by the look in her eyes, she is really excited to be back.
“It’s a real joy, you can see it in her face, you can see it in her demeanour.”
Kessel is most excited to be back around her team.
“It makes you really appreciate the game, and what you missed. You miss even the little things, like being at camp, you can take that for granted. But being back I really cherish every moment now,” she said.
“That’s the best part, is your teammates, and just being there. You have 22 friends where you might have one or two if you’re not playing hockey,” she added, laughing.
As Team USA looks to defend its title, speedy No. 28 says the injury trouble is behind her.
“I don’t think about it anymore,” Kessel said. “I sometimes think it’s surreal that I’m back, because it was such a long time.”
Her American team next faces Finland on Monday, and should earn a berth straight to the tournament’s semifinal on Thursday, April 6.
