The St. Cloud State women’s hockey roster for 2026-27 was all but set until a late commitment from Riley Iverson popped up on social media websites in late May.

“I am proud and honored to announce my commitment to further my academic career and play Division I hockey at St. Cloud State University,” the senior defender from North Dakota posted to her Instagram page. “Thank you to my coaches, family, and friends for the support in achieving this dream come true! #gohuskies🐾”

Barring any further late additions to the roster, Iverson likely rounds out the Huskies squad for this upcoming fall. She’ll be one of two or three other freshman defenders on the team (some combination of Tayla Lamabe - from Alberta, Emily Mitchell - from Michigan, and Adela Fromova - from Czechia).

The recruiting process for Iverson, who just graduated from the Academy of Holy Angels in Richfield, Minnesota, wasn’t an easy one, though, and required a lot of perseverance and mental fortitude throughout the past couple of years.

Right when the recruiting window opened for those in the graduating class of 2026, which was back in the summer of 2024, Iverson got a call early on from WCHA powerhouse Wisconsin. She wound up going out to one of their camps, but unfortunately wasn’t able to participate in many of the events there since she was already rehabbing an injury, which in turn caused talks between the two parties to fizzle out. She didn’t hear from many programs after that, and she even tried to talk with St. Thomas from the WCHA as well, but their roster spots had already been filled for the fall of 2026.

As time went on, it was hard for Iverson to keep her hopes up for a spot on a Division I roster, especially with the transfer portal limiting the number of spots there are for incoming freshmen in college hockey, and with the new ‘five-in-five’ rules that the NCAA is implementing, which will likely affect freshman recruiting now, too. It was mentally draining for the 17-year-old forward to go through her senior season seeing others around her earn their commitments and to still not have one of her own and it was tough to try not to compare herself to everyone else out there. It was simply starting to feel like there just might not be any spots left.

All of a sudden, within a span of just about two months or so, everything fell into place. One of Iverson’s teammates (Sasha Reuter) had a father who was connected with St. Cloud State head coach Mira Jalosuo and wound up putting the two parties in contact with one another. After a couple of conversations, the senior defender from Holy Angels took a visit up to the campus in central Minnesota and announced her commitment to the Huskies shortly after. It was a whirlwind of events for the hockey prospect who was starting to think that her window of opportunity in Division I may have closed. It was a huge relief for both Riley and her mother to have officially found a spot to play college hockey in the future.

“Ever since I was like 12, it has always been a dream of mine to play in the WCHA - it’s the best hockey in the country and some of the best hockey in the world - and I really wanted to play at one of those schools,” said Iverson. “I liked the facility, I liked the coaches, it wasn’t too big of a campus, and it is pretty close to home, which is really important to me because my family wants to go to my games.” 

Iverson originally pictured herself attending school somewhere in a large city, like the University of Minnesota, but after visiting St. Cloud, she realized that St. Cloud actually felt a lot like her hometown in Fargo, which made it feel familiar - in a good way.

Although the Huskies have recruited skaters from all over the world for the 2026-27 season, Iverson does already know fellow incoming freshman Maddie Lee (read our previous feature on Lee, here), and there will be a few other skaters from the area joining the squad as well, such as Sophie Olson of Hill-Murray (read our feature on Olson, here) and Jasmine Hovda of Roseau.

Although Iverson did play three seasons of varsity hockey while living in the Twin Cities and attending high school at the Academy of Holy Angels, the defender actually grew up in North Dakota. She originally started in figure skating, but after watching both of her older brothers at their practices and games, she decided that hockey might be the better fit for her as well. The first time she tried on skates was in Cando, North Dakota, and her family even has a farm up in the Bisbee area, but she grew up playing youth hockey for the West Fargo Stampede organization along with other now highly-regarded prospects such as Avery Hovland (at the Univ. of Minnesota) and Taylor Reese (St. Thomas commit).

Iverson was a forward (specifically a center) for much of her youth hockey career until one day, Taylor Reese’s father stuck her at defense, and it has sort of just stayed that way ever since. The West Fargo native played triple-A hockey as a freshman in high school but then knew that she would have to make a decision about where to play as a sophomore. It has been a popular trend for many high-level girls skaters in North Dakota to seek opportunities in Minnesota or elsewhere to compete against a higher level of competition. For example, Hovland played out east in the NAHA program, and Reese moved north to play for Warroad, so it wasn’t a crazy idea for Iverson to want to make a move of her own.

By the time that Iverson had finished up her freshman year and was looking for somewhere to play for the fall of 2023, both of her brothers had already graduated from high school and were technically adults, which made it easier for Riley and her mother to find somewhere to move together. The only question was - where?

Some of the big names were obviously considered. Moorhead? No, Riley’s mom didn’t really want her mascot to be a ‘Spud’. Edina? No, that was a big youth rival of West Fargo’s. Eventually, the Iversons toured the Academy of Holy Angels and talked with head coach (at the time) Ryan LaMere. He seemed extremely excited for her to be considering the program and showed that he truly wanted her to be there, which was a great sign. Riley and her mom both agreed that it would be a good fit, so they settled on the Stars.

At first, joining in on summer training activities was a bit tough because Riley and her mother were commuting from the Fargo area to the Twin Cities (over a three-hour drive one way), with wake-up times around 5 AM, until they got their new apartment set up in the Bloomington area.

Eventually, when the Iversons moved into their new place, it didn’t take too long for Riley to get adjusted to her new school. Since Holy Angels is a pretty small private, college prep school with about 600 students, it didn’t take long for everyone to get to know the ‘new transfer from North Dakota’.

It turns out that Iverson picked a great program to join at the perfect time, as the Stars only lost three games in the regular season that year and ended up punching their ticket to the Class A state tournament for the first time in almost 20 years. As a sophomore, the North Dakota native posted 12 points through 30 games played in 2023-24.

Holy Angels won its state quarterfinal match-up in 2024 against Luverne, 6-1, before then falling in the semifinal round to eventual state champion Warroad, 3-2.

After her first season of adjusting to Minnesota varsity hockey, Iverson earned an increased role on the squad for her junior season.

“I think in Year 2, my biggest jump was in my confidence,” said the defender. “Sophomore year, I was a lot less confident. I was very weary of going into the season and after my meeting with Ryan [LaMere - the head coach] he was like, ‘next year, you’ll be playing a bigger role on the team and you’ll probably be getting more playing time’ because I wasn’t on the powerplay or the PK my sophomore year, but then junior year I was, so it was a big jump for me like with confidence and everything and getting put on special teams.”

“We were kind of expecting to go back [to the state tournament] that year, my junior year, because it was a pretty good season for us and we had a couple of hiccups but I think a highlight was when we beat Centennial [in January of 2025] and we were like ‘okay we can make it, we can go there again,’ and we felt like it was in view for us,” added Iverson.

As the Stars approached the section tournament that season, Iverson and the squad were prepared to face a tough South St. Paul team in the section final. The score was at 2-2 as the buzzer hit zero in the match, and the game wound up going to two overtimes before Iverson would score the eventual game-winning goal in 2OT.

“We were so tired by the time that it was the second overtime. Our rink guys were so nice though and brought us this big cooler of Gatorades and waters and stuff from the vending machines and I remember lying down in the locker room with my feet up on the wall, and my coach walked in and was like ‘Riley, what are you doing?’ and I was like ‘I’m just so tired’,” joked Iverson about the extremely long section final game. She said she remembers the moment that she scored the game-winner very clearly, and it was such a highlight of her time at Holy Angels, getting to score such a special goal for the team.

The Stars then again went to the state tournament in 2025 and won their quarterfinal match-up, 2-0, against Proctor/Hermantown, before falling to the eventual state champion Dodge County in the semifinals. Iverson posted 23 points through 30 games that season.

“I think what made us good that year is that we weren’t actually super close,” said Iverson. “When it came down to games and practices, we were all together as a team, always, but then off the ice we all had our own separate friend groups and stuff, and we weren’t constantly around each other all the time, we didn’t really ever get sick of each other then.”

The Stars lost a chunk of their top athletes after the 2024-25 season to graduation, but they still retained some top talent, including Iverson for 2025-26. The squad then also had a coaching change as Jake Schuman took over for Ryan LaMere that offseason, so quite a few things looked different as Iverson headed into her senior year.

“My senior year might have been my most enjoyable year because obviously the team was really young, but being a senior I felt like a really big role model to the team, which I loved, and my D-partner was a freshman, so it was fun getting to be around a young team and I think there was a lot less pressure on our shoulders,” said Iverson about the 2025-26 season. “We obviously didn’t have a great record [11-16-1] but we had a really tough schedule and I think it was really good for the younger players too, and it gave us all a mental toughness going into sections.”

Despite a sub-.500 record, the Stars made a big push in sections and made it all the way to the section final against Class A powerhouse Blake, and even pushed the Bears to overtime before the season eventually ended that night. Even though the team didn’t get to go back to state, Iverson had a great time in her senior season, scoring 21 points in 27 games, and even got to wear the ‘C’ on her jersey for the team.

With now both the hockey season and graduation over, Iverson is preparing for her freshman year of college hockey at St. Cloud State. She is currently planning on majoring in biology on a pre-vet track. She has worked at a horse barn in the past and also loves hanging out with her dog, so a possible future in veterinary medicine makes a lot of sense.

“I’ve heard from others that I’m a really good skater and I know that I’m a very physical player, so I can put a body on girls and nothing's gonna stop me from doing that,” said Iverson about her style of play. “I’m a very offensive defenseman too, I like to play in the offensive zone, I like to make plays, and I’m pretty good at seeing the ice and moving the puck around - I’m a big assist person.”

The official 2025-26 schedule for St. Cloud State has not yet been released but per sources, it seems as if the Huskies will open the season at home in late September against UConn at the Municipal Athletic Complex in St. Cloud before the first home games back at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in late October, as the Herb is currently undergoing major renovations this summer.

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