By Jeff Vorva
Correspondent
Kendall Coyne Schofield has earned numerous significant accolades during her hockey career, including an Olympic gold medal and a pair of Olympic silver medals.
The Sandburg graduate and Palos Heights native added to that collection by helping PWHL Minnesota win the inaugural Professional Women’s Hockey League championship on May 29 in Lowell, Massachusetts.
Minnesota beat Boston 3-0 in a winner-take-all Game 5 to clinch the first Walter Cup. Coyne Schofield, who was a driving force in getting the league started, scored an empty-net goal toward the end of the game to put an exclamation point on the inaugural season.
“I’m honored to be the first to hoist [the Walter Cup], but it doesn’t happen without so many people,” Coyne Schofield said at the post-game news conference. “There were a lot of people who didn’t believe us. There were a lot of people who didn’t think we deserved this. I hope now everyone believes that we deserve this and it’s only going to get better.”
In 2023, Coyne Schofield, 32, gave birth to her son, Drew, and some people thought she might have to cut back on her hectic hockey schedule. Instead, she helped form a pro hockey league and played a full six-month season.
“Just hoping that people can see what’s possible,” she said. “You can be a mom and a professional hockey player at the same time.”
Added teammate Kelly Pannek: “To do it with a growing family and amongst all of those other things, she still shows up and does her job every single day as a hockey player.
“She has like seven other jobs on top of it — the biggest one being creating this league for all of us and other players to play in.”
It was a big week for the Schofield family. Coyne Schofield’s husband, NFL offensive lineman Michael Schofield III, had a a sports complex named after him at Schussler Park in Orland Park during a grand-opening ceremony on June 1.
June 14 will be the opening of Pixar’s “Inside Out 2,” in which Coyne Schofield provides the voice of an undisclosed character.