In Abbey Murphy, Gophers women's hockey has an Olympian and chief agitator

Abbey Murphy, a 5-5 bundle of energy for the Gophers women's hockey team, was asked to describe her style of play.

"I grew up on the South Side [of Chicago],'' the sophomore forward said. "I had two older brothers, and I grew up playing sports with all the boys. Me and my brothers would wrestle all the time. My mom would be mad; my dad would love it.''

The older brothers whom Murphy wrestled aren't slouches as athletes. Patrick played wide receiver at Division III Carthage (Wis.). Dominic is a junior wrestler at Division II power St. Cloud State and is ranked No. 10 nationally at 197 pounds.

"Back then I had a chance, but now, no,'' Abbey joked about her probability of winning a match from Dominic.

That hard-nosed approach has served Murphy well. From a standout for the Chicago Mission teams, to a solid freshman season for the Gophers, to a silver medalist for Team USA in the Beijing Olympics, Murphy has mixed determination with talent. She is third in scoring with 20 goals and 18 assists for the third-ranked Gophers, host to No. 8 Wisconsin on Friday and Saturday at Ridder Arena.

Getting to the gritty areas on the ice — specifically in front of the opponent's net — is a responsibility Murphy gladly accepts.

"It's just something that I grew up with. I'm grateful for that,'' she said. "It's brought me a long way, so I'll never stop; I'll tell you that.''

"Abbey brings a lot of energy to our team, for sure,'' Gophers coach Brad Frost said. "She is somebody that you want on your own team and that you just hate to play against. You can see coaches and players on other teams cursing her out because she just brings that out of them. She has been incredible here for us this year.''

Murphy didn't shy away when asked about her role as a verbal agitator, a player that can get under an opponent's skin and mess with her mind.

"I try to,'' she said. "I feel like it's part of the game. But obviously, the most important thing is just going out and scoring goals and winning.''

By playing a physical game, Murphy walks a tight line in a women's sport that doesn't allow bodychecking. She has been whistled for 23 penalties this season, tied for second most in the nation. According to her coach, some penalties have been warranted. Others? Not so much.

"It's trying to play her style up to the line,'' Frost said. "Self-admittedly, she would say she goes over it sometimes and ends up in the penalty box. And there's other times where she doesn't really go over the line but still gets a penalty because the referees are just expecting her to go over the line.''

"It's never fun being in the [penalty] box,'' she said. "That's the No. 1 thing that I try to say to myself: 'Don't be in the box.' My mom texts me every day: 'Stay out of the box.'