Katie Frischmann’s day resembles the typical college student’s in many ways.

She goes to class, studies, hangs out with friends and is still unsure of what she’s going to do with her life when she graduates in May.

Frischmann’s roommate called her fun to be around. Her friend called her personable.

But her day also differs significantly from the average college student’s.

That’s because Frischmann is a member of the Gophers women’s hockey team.

Morning workout

Frischmann wakes up at 7:30 a.m. — some days to get to her workouts on time and other days because that’s when her roommate, teammate Megan Bozek, wakes up.

It’s an early wakeup call but not as early as last fall, when workouts started at 6 a.m.

On Wednesday Dec. 5, Frischmann arrives for her workout at Mariucci Arena via her motorized scooter at about 8 a.m.

She said her scooter makes life easier and allows her to go home during the middle of busy days.

Contrary to popular belief, Frischmann said the athletes are not given the scooters; they have to purchase them.

“A lot of people think they are [given] because a lot of athletes have them,” Frischmann said, “but we’re just that lazy.”

But her schedule doesn’t reflect it. Frischmann’s day includes both a workout and practice.

Her normal workout group includes teammates Bethany Brausen, Sarah Davis, Meghan Lorence, Amanda Leveille and Jordyn Burns, but on this particular day, Frischmann is doing her workout alone.

The workouts are lighter this particular week, but the typical workout lasts about an hour.

Cal Dietz, the Gophers’ strength and conditioning coach, said the team was recovering with lighter workouts after its emotional series against Wisconsin.

Some of her teammates bike in an adjacent room as she does her workout. She said they normally do the same workout as her.

A couple of other athletes are working out, but Frischmann said it’s nice because the weight room usually isn’t too crowded when she’s there.

“She’s a leader by example,” Dietz said. “Her work ethic is more than I could ask for, to be honest with you, as a coach.”

During the season, players have workouts two days a week.

Frischmann said she’s not sure what would happen if she skipped a workout, but she guessed four corners, a dreaded running drill in Mariucci Arena.

“The corner section [of Mariucci] has that V in it. It’s angled, so you run down one side and then over and up the other side and then sprint to the other corner,” she said.

It’s not a popular activity among the team.

“It sucks,” Frischmann said.

After fall training ended, Frischmann said she was pumped she’ll never have to do that activity again.

A couple of years ago, some of her teammates had to run four corners as a consequence for an off-the-ice infraction.

“They had to do six with all their gear beside their skates and helmets,” Frischmann said. “[It was] right after practice. They couldn’t walk for a week.”

Bierman

After her workout, Frischmann headed home to shower and get ready for class. Then she stopped at Bierman Field Athletic Building to print slides for class.

Frischmann spends a lot of time at Bierman. She said she usually goes there every morning.

Some players have required study hours but not Frischmann. As a senior with a high enough GPA, she doesn’t need to.

But she does anyway. She said she spent 13 hours there in a recent week.

She said she studies at Bierman because it’s where she’s usually most productive.

Bierman is packed with teammates and other athletes, but she’s able to get her work done there regardless.

“I just know that I’m there to do homework, where at home I end up talking to Megan or something,” she said.

Class and school

Frischmann, a psychology major, heads to her Introduction to Cultural Psychology lecture at 1 p.m. after her American Sign Language class.

“I picked psych because I thought that’s what I wanted to go into,” she said, “and now I don’t know.”

Two of Frischmann’s classes are psychology-related, and she’s also in a chemistry class and ASL.

Frischmann said she doesn’t have classes with her teammates, but aside from that, she’s with teammates for a majority of the day.

One of her classmates, senior psychology major Brianna Connor, said Frischmann takes notes, listens in class and participates in discussions.

But even in the classroom, Frischmann is reminded of hockey.

Frischmann said the team receives academic progress reports of its players every couple of weeks.

Head coach Brad Frost said the team checks on the players periodically and has an academic counselor who works with them. The counselor sometimes checks in with professors.

He said the team has “pieces in place” in which it is stricter than the NCAA.

“We’re looking beyond the GPA,” Frost said, “and looking at class attendance and how they’re treating their professors and our academic counselors.”

The NCAA requires Division I student-athletes to have a 1.8 GPA by the beginning of their second year, 1.9 by the beginning of their third year and 2.0 by the beginning of their fourth year.

But the Gophers have different rules.

“[Frost] holds us to a higher standard in that if you’re failing a class, you’re not going to play,” Frischmann said.

Bozek said Frischmann is one of the team’s more studious players. She said academics come first for student-athletes of any level.

“You know the guidelines that you have to follow,” Bozek said, “and that’s studying and getting your schoolwork done.”

Practice

The women’s hockey team practices at 2:45 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Practice is later Tuesdays.

Frischmann said the team has recently been ending practice at about 4:15 or 4:30.

Frischmann coordinated her class schedule to not interfere with practice, but class comes first, so if players have to miss practice for class, they do.

She said Wednesday is the only day of the week with everyone at practice.

Frischmann’s last class Wednesday ends at 2:15 p.m., and she heads over to Ridder Arena afterward.

Players’ schedules are fairly consistent. They receive a schedule at the beginning of each month, and she said Frost has never added a practice on a day off.

The NCAA limits the number of countable hours student-athletes practice per week. They must have one day off per week, and between workouts, practice and games, they can only have 20 countable related hours to athletics.

On this Wednesday, the team runs drills for a while before the coaches hop on the ice, which Frischmann said was unusual.

“I think she really enjoys going to hockey every day and the friends she’s made through that,” Bozek said.

After practice Wednesday, Frischmann heads home to make dinner before returning to Bierman for tutoring in chemistry and ASL.

Lately she has been going to Purple Onion Café in Dinkytown to continue studying even after Bierman closes.

Then she heads home and starts the process all over again.