Olympian Molly Schaus skates back to Naperville
Molly Schaus hasn't been around much lately, but she still calls Naperville her hometown.
This weekend she'll be back for the first time in seven years and the city is rolling out the red carpet to welcome her.
An Olympic silver medalist who was a goalie on the U.S. women's hockey team in Vancouver, Schaus arrived Friday afternoon in Naperville for what she expected to be a much-needed low-key weekend with some old friends.
That was before city officials got word of her arrival.
"This is going to be a really fun visit coming to my hometown," said Schaus, who lived in Naperville's Brookwood Trace neighborhood from second grade until her sophomore year of high school. "My friends from Naperville are my friends who have been with me since fourth grade when I started telling them I would play in the Olympics one day. It's pretty unbelievable that now I can come home and show them it came true."
From noon to 2 p.m. Saturday, at Rosebud Italian Specialties and Pizzeria in downtown Naperville, Schaus will meet fans and accept the key to the city as Mayor George Pradel declares it Molly Schaus Day.
"That will be a special moment," she said. "I really don't even know what to think about it or what to say."
Later in the evening Schaus plans to watch the 2010 International Ice Hockey Federation World Women's Under-18 Championship Gold Medal game at Seven Bridges Ice Arena in Woodridge. Team USA spokeswoman Christy Jeffries said Schaus will present the Player of the Game award after the gold medal contest.
Some of those girls, Schaus said, may be her teammates and competition in four years, should she be fortunate enough to compete in the 2014 Olympic Games.
"I won't rule it out by any means," she said. "This has been the best year of my life so if I get a chance to relive it and try for the gold one more time, I'm in."
After taking a break on Sunday to celebrate Easter with local friends' families, Schaus will visit students and former teachers Monday at Spring Brook Elementary and Gregory Middle School. Both schools celebrated another Olympic medal-winning alum, Evan Lysacek, just last week.
"That's awesome isn't it?" Schaus asked. "Must be something in the water in Brookwood Trace that breeds Olympians."
Lysacek, she said, is a great guy who spent a lot of time with the women's hockey team in Vancouver.
"We joked about getting him a jersey because he was basically our 22nd teammate," she said. "It's pretty exciting that we're coming home in back-to-back weeks, but he ruined it for me a little by bringing home a gold (medal)."
The Naperville stop is likely her last trip before she starts focusing on hockey full time again in mid-May. Since the Olympics ended, she's been from the Caribbean to Los Angeles and everywhere in between.
Right after the conclusion of the games, the entire women's Olympic hockey team spent a week in St. Thomas to unwind.
"We almost never hang out in that type of environment as a team so it was a great chance to get to know everyone off the ice," she said. "But equally as cool was when we were flown out to L.A. to tape 'The Ellen DeGeneres Show.' She's awesome."
Once she returns home to Natick, Mass., she'll begin preparing for a championship run during her senior year at Boston College. Until then, she's in Olympic mode which includes taking her medal with her almost everywhere she goes. One day, she'll pick a special place for it and display it prominently.
"If it's not with me it's on the kitchen counter at home so my dad can grab it and take it with him wherever he's going," she said. "I guess he's proud of us or something."