Amanda Kessel is a little more than one month into her competitive comeback from a life-changing concussion, but she’s reportedly already planning on playing hockey at least another two years.
Kessel will “set her sights” on the 2018 Olympics after she graduates from the University of Minnesota this summer, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Kessel, a 24-year-old who sat out nearly two years after the Sochi Olympics, scored the first hat trick of her comeback in her final game at the University of Minnesota’s Ridder Arena on Saturday.
“I didn’t picture ever really being able to come back at first,” Kessel said, according to the newspaper. “So I guess to get another opportunity at that, I’m champing at the bit.”
The 6-2 win over Princeton moved the Golden Gophers into this weekend’s NCAA Frozen Four.
“Here’s a kid who thought her hockey career was over, and now she’s got a second shot at it,” Minnesota coach Brad Frost said, according to the newspaper. “So you can see the passion she’s playing with.”
Meanwhile, many of Kessel’s 2014 U.S. Olympic teammates are preparing for the World Championship, in two weeks in Kamloops, B.C.
