Dartmouth Spotlight on Sarah Toupal

If you think a women's hockey game is not physical because of the body checking penalty, you would be wrong, just ask the multiple players that have been "Toupalled" by Dartmouth senior forward Sarah Toupal.

The name was given to Toupal by assistant coach Holley Tyng following a few incidents on the Thompson Arena ice during practice. One of the occurrences happened last season as she plowed into an unsuspecting freshman.

"G (Geneva Kliman) was a freshman and still learning how to keep her head up and I was going a million miles an hour and she stepped in front of me and I ran her over," said Toupal. "Full out and done."

Toupal believes that whenever you step out on the ice you have to maintain the same intensity as you do in a game or else you're not going to learn. Following the encounter Tyng came up with the phrase "Toupalled or Toupal-Trained" and the name stuck. The assistant coach was not immune to it either.

"She (Tyng) was going through face offs and I was on the wing and was supposed come and get the puck if the center didn't win it back clean," mentioned Toupal. "I went through and she got in my way and I yelled at her and she bolted. She looked scared out of her mind, but I gave her a fair warning."

One accident jumps out over all the others. It was two years ago when Toupal was a sophomore and it was another freshman who paid the price during a routine drill in practice. The drill was working on fighting for a loose puck and what is encouraged is taking the body first before the puck or shielding the opponent prior to touching the puck. Toupal did what she was taught to do and unfortunately, the freshman ended up injured.

"What you end up doing is taking out the opponent first so they cannot get the puck," said Toupal. "So I did that and then her collar bone broke, but it was a clean hit. It wasn't even on the boards. I just stepped in front of her and she just went down."

She is a hard-nosed player, a hard worker, and she knows that that is her role on the team. Toupal may not have the statistics that some of her teammates do, but ask any coach around and they will say every team needs a grinder.

"Every team can't be made of goal scorers," said Toupal. "There has to be some one who gets the puck and the person that runs over the players to get the puck. That's my role. I don't always do it perfectly, but that's what I am good at. I am stronger than a lot of other girls and I try and use those skills to make sure we are doing well."

Now you would think with the way she plays, that Toupal would rack up the penalty minutes like Gillian Apps '06 did. But that is not the case. Her highest penalty total was during the 2007-08 season as she was sent to the box eight times for 16 minutes. In her career she has seen the box only 17 times. The Dartmouth record for most penalty minutes is Apps with 281, while Kristin Romberg '02 had 100 alone in the 1999-00 season.

"I go to the puck hard and yeah it happens," said Toupal. "I knock someone over and get a penalty. That can't change your game. You still have to go to the puck hard and play clean and usually it works out. "

The White Bear Lake, Minn., forward and huge Green Bay Packer fan started lacing up the skates at age six and like most young girls, started on figure skates. However, it didn't work too well. "My dad put me out on figure skates and I couldn't skate to save my life," mentioned Toupal. "He got tired of holding me up and decided to use hockey skates because they have more structure and I just took off."

She began playing mixed mini-mites and clinic, but the unique thing about Minnesota hockey is the advantages given to girls. Most players grow up playing mixed throughout their childhood, but in the Land of 10,000 Lakes she was given a chance to play competitive hockey with girls.

Playing in White Bear, as Toupal called it, she wasn't really being seen by recruiters because the team wasn't successful, but there was more opportunity for her outside of the public school program.

"The most influential team outside of White Bear was the ODP or Olympic Development Program," said Toupal. "I started that when I was in seventh grade and that was a big deal because in White Bear we were not that great, but I was able to get seen. I begin playing with girls a lot older than me and then as I got older I trained with girls that were Division I caliber all through the summer."

She visited Dartmouth and remembers head coach Mark Hudak saying one thing that caught her attention. "Mark told me on the trip that once a year he tries to take the team out and practice on Occom Pond," said Toupal. "Being from Minnesota, that was so clutch because that is what hockey is about, the passion of skating and being able to do it on a pond. For me, that's where I felt this was home."

Toupal has been a consistent player for the Big Green with 10 goals and 23 assists for 33 points in 110 career games, which is more than any other teammate. "She's a great kid and super involved, has matured a ton since her freshman year, on the ice but more so off the ice," said Tyng, "and always smiling."

Her plans have jumped from working in the financial district to possibly taking on a job with an NHL franchise. Wherever she ends up, she will definitely take her teamwork and hard-working skills learned at Dartmouth. But it would probably be a good idea to leave the Toupal-Train at Thompson Arena.