Waupaca’s Mandy Tomlinson
The girls WIAA hockey sectionals faceoff around the state tonight with semifinal action. The state’s top point getter, Mandy Tomlinson, takes to the ice with her Waupaca (Co-op) teammates to face the Bay Area Ice Bears (Co-op) at the Cornerstone Community Ice Center (7 p.m.) near Green Bay.
Tomlinson helped Waupaca advance out of regional play by scoring her 13th hat trick of the season in a 5-4 win over Fond du Lac (Co-op). In that game last week, Tomlinson’s second goal forced overtime and her third goal won it 3:09 into overtime.
Besides the 13 hat tricks (3 goals), Tomlinson has scored four goals in a game three times, five goals in a game once and six goals in a game once as well.
Tomlinson has started all three years for a program that’s in just its 3rd season of operation. She played on the boy’s high school team as a freshman.
Going into tonight’s game against Bay Area, Tomlinson has tallied 60 goals and 38 assists for 98 points, which is the best in Wisconsin. In the last two seasons combined, Tomlinson’s numbers total 94-goals, 52-assists for a total of 146-points.
Tomlinson’s line is also the top scoring line in the state and Waupaca is 23-2, with the only losses coming to University School and Northland Pines, both on the road.
Tomlinson also played for Team Wisconsin’s U-19 team last fall and will again this fall. She plans to play hockey at UW-Superior later this year to study Chemistry, unless a D-1 school comes calling.
Miss Wisconsin Hockey
Mandy Tomlinson was nominated as one of 11 players around Wisconsin for the coveted Miss Hockey Wisconsin award, given to the top female high school hockey player in the state.
Six finalists for the award were recently announced by the Girls Wisconsin Hockey Coaches Association (GWHCA). Surely Tomlinson, the state’s top point producer, is certain to be one of the six, right? Wrong!!!
It seems that the political garbage that seems to hit most if not all coaching groups that vote on such matters, has come into play again.
The six finalists (5 plus a tie) that were selected are Lauren Smith from Northern Edge, Natalie West from Appleton United, Kenzie Torpy from Stoughton, Courtney Wittig of Bay Area, Jacyn Reeves of Onalaska and Nina Anderson from University School.
Waupaca beat Northern Edge twice, 6-5 and 3-2. In the two games, Mandy Tomlinson had a goal and 4 assists while Lauren Smith had two assists. For the season, Tomlinson 98, Smith 56.
Waupaca played Appleton United once, winning 6-5. Tomlinson had 3 goals and 2 assists. Natalie West had 3 goals and 2 assists. For the season, Tomlinson 98, West 53.
Waupaca played Stoughton once, winning 3-1. Tomlinson has a goal and an assist against Iceberg goaltender Kenzie Torpy.
Waupaca has yet to play Bay Area, that comes tonight. For the season, Tomlinson 98, Courtney Wittig 61.
Waupaca has not played Onalaska. For the season, Tomlinson 98, Jacyn Reeves 45.
Waupaca lost to University School 7-0. Nina Anderson had 3 goals and one assist. Point total, Tomlinson 98, Anderson 45.
Two of the four board members serving the GWHCA are coaching one of the six finalists. Mike Jochmann of Stoughton (treasurer) is coaching goaltender Kenzie Torpy and Appleton United coach Marcus Nejedlo (Vice President), coaches Natalie West.
Each one of the six named finalists are outstanding players, but their numbers pale in comparison to that of Tomlinson from small town Waupaca.
Other than the goaltender, Tomlinson’s point total of 98, roughly doubles the point totals of the other finalists. So how can she be left out of the finalist group?
The GWHCA lists 33 coaches as members. According to one source, only coaches who pay a $100 association “membership fee” are allowed to vote for Miss Wisconsin Hockey. That left 18 coaches actually voting for this years player-of-the year award.
Associations that are afforded the honor of voting for the best player in the state are supposed to get it right. Size of the program shouldn’t matter. Although certainly the small school Waupaca Co-op program, playing against some of the state’s biggest programs, should have worked for Mandy Tomlinson, instead of against her.
Tomlinson is also an all-conference volleyball player, three years all-conference in softball and has a 4.0 GPA (Valedictorian of her Class). That doesn’t make her the best girls hockey player in Wisconsin. But 60 goals and 38 assists for a total of 98 points sure does.
Shame on the coaches who voted, that didn’t see to it, to do the right thing by making Mandy Tomlinson at the very least, one of the six finalists for Miss Hockey Wisconsin. She certainly deserved better. What she didn’t deserve, is to be treated as an outcast by a handful of coaches playing the political game and only looking out for number-1.
(The winner of the award will be announced during the WIAA State Tournament next week)
TW U19 stats. Tier 1 Hockey. Plays a stronger schedule against Nationally ranked team.
Jacyn Reeves – 25pts
Courtney Wittig – 22 pts
Sloan Sullivan – 13 pts
Alexis Peterson – 8 pts
Natalie West – 7pts
Mandy Tomlinson – 5 pts.
No Arguement that all are worthy including Mandy…. I just feel this information would’ve added prospective to your article.
Mandy Tomlinson is a very good player. My daughter’s team played Waupaca eight times in her HS career, so we have seen her play many times.
However, just to give some clarity to your stats, in eight games against teams that were in the top ten or honorable mention during the year, Mandy had six goals and eight assists. That translates to 18g-24a=42 points over the course of a season.
According to Mitch Hawker’s Power Rankings, Waupaca played the 18th toughest schedule in the state out of 34 state teams.
Mandy also played on Team Wisconsin and was sixth on the team in scoring, trailing Reeves, Wittig, and West.
This comment is not meant to put down Mandy because she is one heck of a player and will play at least D3 hockey somewhere, but stats don’t always tell the full story.
Great article! Mandy is great student, athlete and citizen. We here in Waupaca, whether or not we are involved with the girls hockey program, are truly proud of the team, the program and Mandy. It is certainly too bad that great kids like Mandy can’t be recognized for their contributions to the sport and community because of their merit and other, moderate players, can get recognized because their coaches can afford to nominate them. Hats off to you for speaking the truth without sugar coating the facts. And boo to the GWHCA for allowing such favoritism.
I do not know this young lady, however, Bill Scott I am so grateful their is a grown-up in her corner. My advice to her is to not skip a beat in acheiving her goals and ambitions, continue to be a Glittering Gold Standard if a class act and allow the adults do the screaming in public. Too often something like this will break a teen. She is too worthy to not allow that to happen. I aagian am so glad you are a voice for this young lady.
Isn’t it remarkable how talented youth are these days? Mandy certainly deserves recognition.
…with that said, you should not be writing about hockey. This is not meant to be a hate-comment, as I am against negativity on the Internet, but something has to be said about this harsh post of yours. There is much more to hockey than point total, which you were off by 50pts btw. She had 34 goals and 14 assists, which is 48pts. Still, that’s a lot. Many more than others in the league. One of the finalists had 31pts, but did so as a defenseman (woman). Just saying.
I don’t need to explain myself. It is clear in your post that you are venting, you know little about hockey, and that you are very pationate towards your hometown (which isn’t a bad thing). All I am asking is that you please keep in mind those other finalists are in high school and all they are doing is having fun.
Thank you
How many of Mandy’s goals or assist were against really weak teams where waupaca beat those teams a lot to a little or none? Not many were scored in very competive games or she was even shut out completely. Not saying it’s her fault but their schedule is not very though. Take their game tonight for example 10-0 against Bay Area. No points for Mandy.
Alex, I explained in my post that this shouldn’t take away from the others who are deserving as well. Mandy does have 60 goals and 98 points. You need to check your facts. Perhaps you are looking at conference stats, just a guess. I’m looking at the entire season. I do know plenty about hockey, but I’m not going to argue the fact. I’m only saying this: When you lead the state in scoring by such a wide margin, you deserve to at least get to the dance. I’m not saying Mandy has to win the best player in the state award. I’m simply saying those numbers, regardless of the level of competition, are deserving of a seat at the table. She should have been a finalist and a small group of 18 coaches decided to take that away. By the way, my home town is not Waupaca. I’ve lived in Green Bay for 25 years, before that, I lived and worked in Waupaca for 7-years. Prior to that, I was born and raised in Wild Rose and spent 21 years there.
I think you could make that arguement for many of the finalists. It’s always more difficult to score against better competition. I’m not making excuses for Mandy. She did not play well last night, much like her team. I’ll only re-state, Mandy deserves a seat at the table. To put up 98 points against any competition, deserves a seat at the table. She doesn’t have to win it, which I think I pointed out in my story. Thank you for your response.
I don’t dispute that. I simply believe she deserves a seat at the table. Regardless of competition, she should have been a finalist. I’m not suggesting she is the top player in the state. I haven’t even seen all of the others play. But when you have that many points, she deserves an invite to the dance.
Remember Jolene Anderson? She played high school basketball for little old South Shore high school. She set the state scoring record, only to have it busted up by another South Shore star a week ago. South Shore is a very small school, playing in high school’s smallest division. Should we diminish her stats because her level of competition was not of the higher caliber?
Anderson went on to break the scoring record at the University of Wisconsin and now plays professional overseas.
I watched Mandy play for the first time in two years last night. She didn’t play well, but most of all, her team was overmatched by an outstanding Bay Area team. Courtney Wittig was outstanding and a thrill to watch play. She also had an outstanding cast of players around her. She is able to go hard for 30-seconds, knowing she’ll be coming off the ice for proper rest and recovery because her talented teammates will pick up the slack until it’s her turn to take a shift on the ice again.
Mandy Tomlinson doesn’t have that outstanding supporting cast and has to spend way too much time on the ice. It doesn’t stack up well against teams like Bay Area, or University School, teams with far superior talent.
You can make the same arguement for the other players considered finalists. How did they stack up when they played the really stiff competition on their schedule? I’ll bet you didn’t tabulate their totals.
Thank you for your kind response. You obviously did so with some knowledge and insight. My story yesterday wasn’t meant to try to drag down the competition. It’s just my opinion that a player that produces such overwhelming numbers, deserves more. Just my opinion.
Thank you!
Thanks for the added information. Sorry I didn’t have that information. My intention was not to bring down the other competitors. It was simply to say a player with those overwhelming numbers, deserved a seat at the table. Just my opinion.
Thank you for your note!