Former Minnesota hockey greats Natalie Darwitz and Krissy Wendell-Pohl were teammates with the Gophers from 2002-05, and now they’ll be going in together to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

The pair of former Gophers and U.S. Olympians will join Colin Campbell, Pavel Datsyuk, David Poile, Jeremy Roenick and Shea Weber to make up the 2024 class when it is inducted Nov. 11 in Toronto.

Wendell-Pohl got emotional when she found out they’d also be going into the hall together, especially as another sign of the growth and appreciation of women’s hockey.

“It’s crazy,” she said. “To think of how far the game has come in such a short amount of time but yet feels so long ago when you think of where it was back when we kind of started playing on boys (teams) and the opportunities now that girls have to play.”

Darwitz and Wendell-Pohl led Minnesota to back-to-back national championships in 2004 and 2005, and Darwitz was named the Frozen Four Most Outstanding Player in 2005.

Darwitz tallied 42 goals and 72 assists for 114 points in 2004-05, breaking the NCAA record for points in a single season. In just 99 career games, the three-time All-American currently ranks first in program history in points per game (2.48) and assists per game (1.45).

Wendell-Pohl was the 2005 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award winner for the nation’s top player. The Brooklyn Park native ranks second in program history in points per game (2.35), goals per game (1.05) and assists per game (1.30).

On the international stage, Darwitz and Wendell-Pohl combined for five Olympic medals and 14 IIHF women’s world championship medals with Team USA. Both are members of the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame and the ‘M’ Club Hall of Fame.

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