Minnesota native and U.S. Olympian Dani Cameranesi on day one of her Gold Medal hockey camp for girls.

Gold Stars Appear in Deerwood

For United States Olympians Hannah Brandt and Dani Cameranesi, teaching and coaching hockey to young girls has become a natural extension of their own prolific hockey careers

At Heartland Hockey Camp in Deerwood, MN, the impressive refrigerated indoor rinks are even more inviting on this sweltering 95 degree Monday in June. It’s the first full day of Dani Cameranesi and Hannah Brandt’s Gold Medal Hockey Camp for girls, a week-long camp of on- and off-ice hockey drills mixed with plenty of typical summer fun.

Fresh off a silver medal performance at the ‘22 Beijing Winter Olympics, Hannah and Dani have made what is now an annual trek north to run their bustling girls’ camp.

“It was after the 2018 Olympics we came here for a few days just to help out at one of the camps and then Steve said ‘well, I’d love to have you guys do your own camp next year,’ so 2019 was our first year,” recalled Brandt.

Steve Jensen, the former North Star and ‘76 U.S. Olympian has run Heartland Hockey Camps since 1985. The girls’ Gold Medal camp is now in its fourth year, with every indication that it is here to stay. As campers shuffled from the rink to the cafeteria on this Monday, Jensen confirmed excitedly that Hannah and Dani will return for at least another year.

“I came up here right after 2018 just as a guest coach and clearly me and Hannah have loved it because we’ve kept coming back,” says Cameranesi.

Cameranesi during on-ice drills with some of this year's campers. 

The players keep coming back, too

“Especially at this camp we have girls from all over the country,” says Brandt. “We have a good chunk from Minnesota but it’s fun having these girls come in from places that don’t have the type of hockey that we have here in Minnesota.”

It appears the campers agree.

Returning camper Avery from Chanhassen enjoys making new friends and meeting new people. “There's a lot of people who come from all around the world and meeting them is kinda cool and then playing hockey with them is really cool,” she said.

But it is, in fact, summer vacation for these kids and at Heartland there’s plenty of other fun to be had without holding a hockey stick. Portage Lake is just across the road and is fully equipped for all sorts of water recreation activities. In addition, there are tennis courts, pickleball courts, mini golf, a new campers lounge and even tree houses.

Brandt feels strongly that campers need to have a well-rounded experience.

Hannah Brandt, pictured in Heartland Hockey Camp's Fitness Room. 

“Obviously a lot of them have big goals and they want to go play college or play in the Olympics, but at the end of the day I want them to have a fun week here,” says Brandt.

“We will focus on some pretty important things on the ice, but I want them to have a blast off the ice; make friends from new places, I think that’s really important. If it’s just a grind all the time you're probably not going to continue on with it. So I want these girls to have fun and love the game as much as I did, and still do.”

The formula of intensive hockey training coupled with meeting new friends and summertime fun has created a healthy balance for the young players, whose ages typically range from 9-15. But when it comes to campers developing their hockey skills, every kid knows they are learning from two of the most celebrated women’s players today.

Minnesota hockey royalty

The parallels between the two Olympians are unavoidable: Both were crowned Ms. Hockey in Minnesota as seniors in high school (Brandt in 2012 with Hill Murray, Cameranesi in 2013 with Blake). Both enjoyed illustrious college careers at the University of Minnesota, winning multiple national titles, and both were members of Team USA in the 2018 (Gold) and 2022 (Silver) Winter Olympics.

Hannah Brandt took the women’s college hockey world by storm as a Gopher freshman in 2012-13, finishing second in the nation with 82 points and playing a leading role on a national title-winning team that went an unthinkable 41-0-0. Upon Cameranesi’s arrival the following season, the pair would be a part of two more title-winning teams in 2015 and 2016.

Hannah and Dani celebrating Gold with Team USA  Photo credit: imgur.com

Dani Cameranesi came to the Golden Gophers after a record-setting prep career at The Blake School, where she scored 201 career goals. Her 366 total points ranks fourth all-time in girls high school history. She capped off her prep career by leading the Bears to the Class A state title.

Now, a decade removed from high school and adorned with national titles and Olympic medals, Brandt and Cameranesi say they are impressed with the continued growth of the girls high school game in Minnesota and the overall skill level of the players.

“I know when me and Hannah were in high school it was a little different, you would have some good players and a little bit of a drop off, but there is not a drop off anymore,” says Dani. “We joke that a lot of these young high school kids have way better shots than we had.”

Hannah agrees with her longtime teammate. “I feel like the biggest thing is the depth on each team. There’s still stand-out players obviously but it’s not just one player on each team, there’s 10-15 good skaters that can compete at a high level on each team.”

Next level skating

For Brandt, skating is where it all begins. “We focus a lot on skating and I think that’s one of those things where nobody really wants to work on that, it’s not like your favorite thing. A lot of them maybe think they’re a good skater just because they can do everything they need to do but there’s so many more levels of skating that you can go to.

Players worked on skating technique drills with Nils Semjonovs at Heartland's Fitness Center. 

“Growing up I was not a good skater, I really struggled, I was always falling, so that was something I really had to focus on. Did I enjoy doing that? Not necessarily, but is that what the difference was for me making Olympic teams or not? Probably.”

At the Gold Medal Camp, players work with Dr. Nils Semjonovs, a licensed physical therapist of Latvian descent who specializes in developing skaters. “Even if they are good there’s another level they can go to with their skating and Coach Nils is awesome because he is very good at teaching the techniques of skating,” said Brandt from the camp’s dryland fitness room.

For campers who keep coming back each summer, their Olympic instructors can see the strides they’ve made. “Kids know what to expect when they come back here,” Cameranesi says, “and I’ve already seen a lot of the girls’ progress and I think a good portion of it is from what they learn here.”

Same time next year

Still, when all is said and done, it may be that the camp’s less intense activities generate the most vivid memories for the kids. “The final scrimmage is super fun,” said veteran camper Ella from Chaska. “They announce everybody’s name and there’s like disco lights and stuff and then they do play-by-play.”

And after this year’s closing ceremony, campers know Hannah and Dani will be back again, at least for another year.

Jokes Brandt: “We have a lot of fun so we’re going to keep doing it until Steve gets sick of us, I guess.”