The Hoboken girl grabbed a certain U.S. hockey camp to compete with the best in the nation

It only took three years before Gabriela Gross turned into a 15-year-old girl who enjoyed hockey, heading to a prestigious national U.S. hockey camp dedicated to making her career in the sport.

I was home when my dad came up and told me he had hockey news. When he said I was selected for the 2021 USA Ice Hockey Girls 15 Players Development Camp, Gross said. I couldn’t believe it because I went to the experiment without really thinking about that day.

Gross, who has just finished his first year at Hoboken High School, is now going to St. Paul, Minnesota, 10-15. July to attend a week-long camp at the Herb Brooks Hockey Center with 215 top girl hockey players from across the country.

The camp includes ice and ice training designed to train and provide players with information and resources to promote their overall development. USA Hockey leads a camp that includes exercises, games, strength and fitness, team building, nutrition and a classroom.

The sport’s total journey began at the age of 3 when his father enrolled in an ice skating program at Pershing Field Ice Rink in Jersey City.

When Gabriela was young, I took her to our local cliff in Jersey City, where she was introduced to hockey through a program for one beginner, said her father, Zac Gross. There we met Charlie Heger, a local legend in the world of hockey.

Gross will spend the next 10 years as part of the Charlie Heger Ice Rink, Jersey City Capitals. There, he found his love for the sport and found that he wanted hockey to be a big part of his future.

It was about three years ago and the last season at the Capitals when I told my parents that I really wanted to focus my life and future around hockey. So I moved to a new organization called Ironbound Elite Hockey, which suited me much better because it was an all-girls team, said Gross, who plays for the team going forward.

Joining the Ironbound Elite Hockey team in Newark gave Gross the opportunity to expand his game. The team offered Gross the opportunity to travel to tournaments around the country.

It also introduced her to the Atlantic District USA Hockey Trials in Philadelphia, where Atlantic girls spend three days competing for a spot at a national camp. In those three days, Gross was awesome when his game earned him a place at the U.S. Hockey Camp at St. Cloud University.

When I’m in hockey, I never think of anything else. It’s such a great pleasure to step on the ice that I never want to get away, Gross said. I’m definitely nervous in the direction of the national camp, but I’ve practiced and practiced every day so that when I arrive in St. Paul, I’m prepared for a moment and ready to compete.

While the camp may be in the near future, Gross has set his eyes on a much bigger prize: a one-day suit in red, white and blue on the world’s biggest stage.

My dream is to play at the University of Northeast University and then continue on to the U.S. national team. I’m just excited about where hockey takes me in life.