St. Scholastica Women’s Hockey Coach Navigates Coronavirus Pandemic

The two-time national champion at UMD had a life-saving liver transplant five years ago and now has to take extra precautions as coronavirus continues to spread.

DULUTH, Minn. – With the sports world still shut down, many athletes and coaches are adjusting to a new normal. But for one St. Scholastica assistant coach, the coronavirus makes things a little tougher.

St. Scholastica women’s hockey assistant coach Julianne Vasichek had just wrapped up her first season in her new role when the coronavirus paused the sports world.

“We finished on the Saturday, we got home Sunday and I think it was like Tuesday or Wednesday that the NBA announced that they were going to get canceled,” Vasichek said.

But for Vasichek, things would quickly change. Five years ago, Vasichek had a life-saving liver transplant and is one of many living with a compromised immune system.

“I also have chronic colitis and ulcerative colitis so because of those two different things, I take immune suppressing medication, anti-rejection medications to help my liver survive,” Vasichek added.

After multiple surgeries over the past five years, Vasichek has built back up her strength.

“The further I’ve gotten away from having to go through these hospital visits chronically, the better I feel just with energy and with consistency, the stronger I feel. Actually right now, I tell people it’s hard to believe, I feel like I’m back in college playing hockey. A little less fitness, but I feel that good,” Vasichek said.

While she’s feeling stronger, the two-time national champion at UMD has still been taking her normal precautions.

“I already have a couple of masks. I have one here called a vogmask, which is sold out right now, but a lot of transplant patients wear these and they have an N95 and some have an N99 respirator in them so it just helps with the incoming particles, filtering that out. So I wouldn’t wear this all the time but for example, if the team was going through a lot of sickness this year, I’d wear this on a bus ride,” Vasichek added.

The Saints are one month into the offseason, a time where Vasichek would normally start leading off-ice training. The Saints are still doing some virtual training, but now, Vasichek is trying to help support her student-athletes.

“It’s still the connection point, what’s what I think what Coach [Jackie] MacMillan and I really miss. So we’re both just trying to connect with them as much as we can and let them know that we’re here and we’ll be here for them to help them get through it,” Vasichek said.

As the next few months are still unknown and athletes are stuck wondering when they’ll play next, Vasichek wants to be a reminder that some things are just bigger than sports.

“I know that right now, it’s hard to look out of that day by day and that’s okay. I think it’s a lot about perspective right now and it’s really important to someone like me because I think it’s going to be a really long time before I can return to a normal that we were experiencing before. I’ve dealt with changing normal for a long time now and sometimes you’ve just got to be happy with where you’re at and now always trying to get out of it or think that you need something more,” Vasichek said.