The Daily Iowan: What’s one word you associate with being a center?

Maddy Hellwig: I would probably say grit. You have to take the face-offs, so you are responsible for getting that puck back — making sure you can get that possession every time. Grit really can be applied to all the positions. It’s such a high-velocity sport.

What’s something in your background that made the transition over to hockey easier than it might have been?

It sounds like an oxymoron, but cross country. With skating, you have to have a lot of stamina because you do it so much. It’s taxing on your body. It’s a lot of labor. In high school, I was running all the time, so having that built in was very helpful when I started actually playing. When I was growing up, I would play street hockey, roller hockey, but never really played on a real team because there wasn’t [one]. I grew up here in Iowa City, and there’s not a hockey culture here.

What’s one thing that hockey has taught you?

It’s taught me how to be part of a team. With cross country, I ran for six years, and it’s a team sport but not really. You can qualify to run in the state meet as an individual. If your team doesn’t qualify, you might qualify as an individual. In hockey, you can’t do that. If you want to qualify for whatever, your whole team has to do it. You all have to do it. You’re all part of this success. Everybody really is crucial to succeeding.

What is one thing you think hockey has done well in your life?

It’s a way to stay active and have fun. I ran cross country in high school, and I really loved being with all my friends. But those runs where I would be by myself, I didn’t really have fun. This is a team sport in the truest sense, where everybody has to do their job in order to play well and in order to succeed as a team.

Editor’s note: Maddy Hellwig is a former staff member at The Daily Iowan.