UMD’s Jobst-Smith Leads Through Kindness, Grit
Named Alternate Captain for 2023-24 Season
DULUTH, Minn.- Nina Jobst-Smith has done a lot of growing up in the last four years. It all stemmed from her life-changing decision to leave her home country for the United States.
“I had intended to go to a school up in Canada. So, after kind of having a change-of-heart in my 12th grade year, I decided to decommit and come to the US.” says Jobst-Smith. “In doing that, I pushed back my high school graduation by a year.”
Still, Jobst-Smith was prepared to leave home after spending time in Europe playing for the German National Team. “That was also a really big experience for me. I learned a lot. It was hard being away from my family, but it honestly made the college transition a lot easier. I still have some great friends over there who just taught me a lot about like culture and life and keeping connections.”
Her choosing to play in the States then led her to the UMD Bulldogs. “Within a couple of weeks to three weeks of just meeting the coaches. I sent them an email; they saw me play brought me down here the next week and I committed on site.” she smiled. “It just felt really right. And it’s kind of like a fairy tale story of how to commit somewhere. But yeah, I’m so thankful that they took an opportunity with me and gave me that chance.”
In her fourth year at UMD, Nina was named an alternate captain for her indispensable presence on the ice and in the locker room. “She is the first person to say hi to me every single morning and the last person say goodnight to me,” says Mannon McMahon, UMD’s team captain. “(Nina) really rallies the group around her; she’s a glue to this team. She checks in on everyone to make sure that everyone is doing okay.”
“I would say I’m pretty shifty and offensive,” says Jobst-Smith “But I think coming to UMD has really helped me kind of grow into a different game where I’ve learned to play gritty and learn to like body contact and kind of have a more defensive mindset.”
During the regular season, the Bulldogs have had their fair share of both ups, downs, and everything in between. But take it from Jobst-Smith when she says UMD is embracing a postseason state of mind moving forward. “We’re on a mission,” she says. “We’re ready to attack every single series moving forward and know that we have to be at our best every single period every single shift. And yeah, we’re looking forward to that.”
