NCAA Highlight: Kelly Pannek →

In December 2016, Kelly Pannek had never been invited to a senior camp with USA Hockey. Fifteen months later, she won an Olympic gold medal. Her coaches at the University of Minnesota weren't planning on her missing the 2017-18 collegiate season. It wasn't that they didn't think she was skilled enough–it was just practically unheard of to have a player go from outside the pool of prospective players to Olympic roster in such a short time.

The timeline is actually even more compact than that. Though Pannek was invited to her first senior level camps–the December 2016 development camp–she was not put on the roster for the series between the US and Canada that took place that month. Her first senior level tournament was at the 2017 IIHF Women's World Championships, where Team USA won gold.

It all happened so fast that Pannek said she didn't really ever have time to freak out or get too far in her own head about it, though she said her family had a bit of a gut-check for her when they saw the speed of play at the World Championships, worrying if Kelly was prepared for what she was getting into. She didn't tally any points that tournament, but was had nine shots on goal. Less than a year later, she was winning Olympic gold.