2018-19 Wisconsin women's hockey recruit class

Women's Hockey

Fantastic five: Badgers to welcome quintet of new players in 2018-19 season

UW to welcome three forwards, defenseman and goaltender to Madison next fall

Women's Hockey

Fantastic five: Badgers to welcome quintet of new players in 2018-19 season

UW to welcome three forwards, defenseman and goaltender to Madison next fall

MADISON, Wis. -- The Wisconsin women's hockey program and head coach Mark Johnson announced the signing of five student-athletes for the 2018-19 season on Tuesday.

Forwards Britta Curl (Bismarck, North Dakota), Jesse DeVito (Rumson, New Jersey) and Sophie Shirley (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan), defenseman Nicole LaMantia (Wayne, Illinois) and goaltender Cami Kronish (New Canaan, Connecticut), will join the Badgers next fall.

"We're excited for a lot reasons bringing this class in," UW head coach Mark Johnson said. "The one strength outside their overall hockey skillset and talent is their work in the classroom. We talk about student-athletes, each one of them certainly fits that to a real high level. They've got great families, they're all in a good situation to get better and we're excited to bring them in next fall." 

Britta Curl

Curl, a Bismarck, North Dakota native, will bring both prep and national team experience to the Badgers' bench next season. At the high school level, Curl has won three state championships with the Bismarck Blizzard and was on the Girls All-State squad in 2015, 2016 and 2017. She put up big numbers her junior year, leading the state in scoring with 45 goals and 32 assists for 77 points. During her sophomore season, Curl led her team in points, goals and assists, posting a total of 49 points from 33 goals and 16 assists. Her 49 points also paced the state. A rookie standout, Curl was second in the state in point scoring, and was named to the All-West Region team.

In addition to her role with Blizzard, the forward recently suited up for the U.S. under-18 team at the 2018 IIHF Women's World Championships, where she won gold for the U.S. Curl was named one of the Top 3 U.S. Players of the Tournament after recording four goals and four assists, including two goals in the gold medal game. In addition, Curl also attended both the 2016 and 2017 Girls Select U-18 Player Development Camps, and participated in USA Hockey's 2016 Women's National Festival.

Personal: Daughter of Bill and Gretchen Curl. Has two brothers, Byrne and Cullen, and one sister Brenna. Was a member of National Honor Society, Student Council, Catholic Athletes for Christ, and Future Business Leaders of America. Also competed in soccer and track. Intends on majoring in education or mathematics.

Johnson on Curl: "Britta is a very gifted athlete as she excels not only in hockey but in track. On the ice, she's that description of a power forward and she has great presence and gets to the pucks first. She has good size, good skating ability and handles the puck well and her experience this year with the U.S. under-18 team will expand her game. When she comes in and people watch us play, they're going to notice her."

Jesse DeVito

A Rumson, New Jersey native, DeVito currently plays at the Kent School and the U-19 Mid-Fairfield Connecticut Stars, where she serves as captain for the Stars this year. She led Kent to a 22-2-1 record her junior year and led them to the New England Championship game. As a sophomore, Devito helped Kent to a 19-4-1 record and to a Founder's League title. DeVito spent her first year of prep hockey with the New Jersey Titans Triple A Bantam Major Boys' team.

DeVito also attended USA Hockey Girls' national player development camp in 2013 and the girls' under-18 Select 66 player development camp in 2016.

Personal: Daughter of Kathy and Mark. Has two brothers, Scott and Jake, and three sisters, Catherine, Chelsea and Janie. Intended major is real estate. Also competed in varsity soccer and varsity lacrosse. Member of honor roll all four years of high school. Volunteer at Scott Chinery Annual Festival to benefit children with cancer. Member of the Hope for Haiti Club and EMT and Firefighting Club at Kent School.

Johnson on DeVito: "The puck seems to find Jesse, especially in the offensive zone. She's someone that can read and anticipate what's happening well so the puck ends up on her stick a lot. As Jesse continues, her game is going to get better and better, whether it's the ability to get the puck to the net or using her speed to create offensive opportunities. I think she's going to surprise a lot of people when she comes in here."

Sophie Shirley

A native of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Shirley brings a lot of experience to Wisconsin, both at the international and CWHL level. A member of the Canada U-18 Women's WJC in 2016, Shirley tallied five points in five games to help the team capture silver. The forward attended the Hockey Canada Senior National Camp last September, and represented Hockey Canada in a two-game series against the U.S. Last January, Shirley placed on the U-18 squad in the 2017 IIHF World Championships, leading Canada in scoring with two goals and four assists and just recently competed for Canada at the Nations Cup.

Shirley currently plays for the Calgary Inferno in the CWHL and is tied for the team lead for points thanks to four goals and seven assists.

Prior to her time with the Inferno, she spent her senior year playing in the Okanogan Hockey Academy where she averaged 1.8 points per game, notching 27 points from 16 goals and 11 assists. The forward tallied 37 points from 16 goals and 21 assists playing for the Notre Dame Hounds of the JWHL her junior season to earn First All-Star team honors.

Personal: Daughter of Tim and Carol Shirley. Has two brothers, Keenan and Collin and one sister, Grace. Intends to major in physical education or occupational therapy. Competed in soccer, volleyball, golf, tennis, softball, badminton and track and field in high school and was a two-time member of the honor roll.

Johnson on Shirley: "The things that stick out for Sophie are her speed and her ability to get places on the ice. She's aggressive after the puck and is a creative player with the puck, and can get into open spaces quickly and attack the net quickly. The exposure that she has with the national team, Hockey Canada, her maturity and her growth that we've seen since last year are great. Growing up, Sophie looked up to Emily Clark and that helped because Sophie's parents talked to Emily's parents about the Wisconsin experience, which helped in Sophie's decision making. I think that her upside is untouched right now. She has a chance to really become a good player. We're excited to start the process and the journey to help her along that way."

Nicole LaMantia

Another player with both international and club-level experience, LaMantia is Wisconsin's lone blue-line recruit. A defenseman from Wayne, Illinois, LaMantia played with the Chicago Mission during her prep years, competing on the under-16 squad her freshman year before moving up to the Under-19 team her sophomore year. As an assistant captain her junior year, LaMantia led her team to 2017 National Championship, taking the silver in the title game. The under-19 squad won state and regionals in her sophomore and junior seasons. As a freshman, LaMantia helped her team to both state and regional titles as well as a national playoff berth in 2015.

Aside from her play at club level, LaMantia has also spent time on the international stage, helping the U.S. claim gold at the 2017 IIHF U-18 Women's World Championship. In addition, LaMantia participated in both the Girls' Select U-18 player development camp and the USA Hockey Women's U-18 National Festival in 2015 and 2016.

Personal: Daughter of Anthony and Gina LaMantia. Has one brother Dean. Intends on majoring in business. Member of National Honor Society and High Honor Roll. Participated in community service with youth hockey players throughout high school.

Johnson on LaMantia: "Nicole is a very skilled puck-moving defenseman. She can get up the ice with it. She has great puck-handling skills, good speed, and someone else who just competes really hard as far as one-on-ones and defending well. Nicole had a chance with the under-18 team to play, so she has played at a high level. Coming from the Chicago Mission, who, for the last couple of years, have competed for national championships – she's played against a lot of top competitive organizations and done very well. What we see are things that we really like regarding her skill so we're looking forward to her taking the next step."

Cami Kronish

A goaltender from New Canaan, Connecticut, Kronish spent her prep years skating for the North American Hockey Academy in the Junior Women's Hockey League. This year she has an 8-1-1 record, a goals-against average of 1.15 and a save percentage of .948. As a junior, she backstopped the NAHA White squad to a JWHL championship victory as well as championship titles in both the Toronto Aeros Tournament and the Northwood Invitational Tournament. Her performance in her junior season earned her a JWHL All-Star game invite and second-team all-star goalie honors. She helped the NAHA under-19 team to a berth in the JWHL semifinals her sophomore year.

At the national level, Kronish attended the USA Hockey U-18 national development camp in 2016 and 2017, and the USA Hockey Goaltender development camp in 2017. Kronish also suited up with the under-18 U.S. squad for the 2015 World Selects Invitational in Bolzano, Italy.

Personal: Daughter of Chris and Ben Kronish. Has a sister Jennifer. Undecided on a major. Also competed in lacrosse. Was a member of the honor roll in both 2016 and 2017. Volunteered at Morry's Camp, a summer camp for underprivileged children and helped serve holiday meals to the homeless at Goddard Riverside center.

Johnson on Kronish: "I like her work habits, I like her size and I like her athletic ability. If you put all those together, you have a chance to become a pretty good goaltender. History tells us with our former goaltenders, whether it was Jessie (Vetter), Alex (Rigsby) or whether it was Ann-Renee (Desbiens), they're good athletic kids that had good work habits and all became really good goaltenders. She's coming into a perfect situation where she'll be able to develop, get comfortable with the college game and not feel a lot of pressure right on. With her work habits and athletic ability, she's going to do well."

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Players Mentioned

Emily Clark

#26 Emily Clark

Forward
5' 7"
Senior
L