Welcome to a new pregame blog for Gophers women's hockey! Ahead of Saturday's WCHA playoffs game against Bemidji State, sports reporter Megan Ryan caught up with senior goaltender Noora Räty for some pregame action.

Räty broke the NCAA Division record for career shutouts with Friday night's 5-0 win. She also tied the seasonal record with 14.

You were named a WCHA Scholar Athlete for this year. What is your proudest moment from school?

Probably that I got an A from public speaking class. That was my sophomore year and… I was sweating bullets every time before every speech. And that was absolutely the most horrible class I have ever taken but somehow I got an A and I am really proud that I got an A. And I always make fun of my teammates because they have taken that class and there's not many girls that got an A from public speaking. And I mean English is my second language so that's nice to make fun of my teammates.

What are the most difficult English words to pronounce?

Whatever words that have Q like quote or quantitative… or Y. I mean just the words that have a lot of letters because in Finnish pretty much all the words are pretty short.

If you weren't a hockey player, what sport would you play?

I would probably be a professional golfer right now because I would say I'm a pretty good golfer. Actually my dad really wanted me to start playing golf.

Any pregame locker room jams?

We used to play a lot of that Long Hair Don't Care song and then one of my favorite songs is I Want You Back.

If you were a drink, what drink would you be and why?

I would be Pepsi Max because I drink a lot of Pepsi Max, like four or five cans a day and that's – I need to cut that, definitely.