Grace Zumwinkle

Did You Know?

• Her younger sister, Emily, also played college ice hockey at Minnesota and currently plays for the Seattle Torrent of the PWHL.
• Her older sister, Anna, played D3 hockey for Middlebury.
• According to her USA Hockey profile, Zumwinkle's favorite postgame meal is chicken, and she wants to pursue a career in finance after her hockey career.

Early life

Grace Zumwinkle grew up in Excelsior, Minnesota, with her two sisters, Anna and Emily, and parents Lori (Bodensteiner) and Mike Zumwinkle. Her father played college football at St. John's University from 1982 to 1986, while her mother played tennis for the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University from 1983 to 1987. After repeatedly asking for skates, she started playing hockey as a young child and later joined the Minnesota Jr. Whitecaps club team. At Breck School in Golden Valley, she played ice hockey, tennis, and golf. As a senior captain in 2016–17, she was a four-time team MVP, tallying 58 points in 23 games. That season, she earned the 2017 Star Tribune Metro Player of the Year award, the Athena Award, and was named Minnesota Ms. Hockey. In tennis, she won two state doubles titles and finished as runner-up twice in doubles. In golf, she placed eighth individually at the 2016 state tournament and helped her team finish in the top eight three times.

Playing career

Zumwinkle played five seasons for the Minnesota Golden Gophers from 2017 to 2021, serving as team captain during her senior year. In her freshman season, she recorded 17 goals and 21 assists in 38 games to lead the team in scoring, and was named to the All-WCHA First Team, WCHA All-Rookie team, and WCHA Scoring Champion, becoming the first freshman to earn that title since 2010. During the 2018–19 season, she ranked second on the team in scoring with 41 points in 39 games and led the team with six multi-goal games. She led Minnesota and ranked second in the WCHA with 25 goals, and led the WCHA and tied for second in the nation with seven power-play goals. On November 30, 2018, she recorded a career-high five points with her first career hat-trick and two assists in a game against Yale. She was named WCHA Forward of the Month for November 2018 and January 2019. At the professional level, Zumwinkle earned PWHL Rookie of the Year honors in 2024 and scored the first hat-trick in PWHL history.

International play

Zumwinkle represented the United States at the 2016 and 2017 IIHF World Women's U18 Championships, winning gold both times. She was named to Team USA's roster for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, where she scored her first Olympic goal in a 5–0 victory over the Russian Olympic Committee on February 5, 2022. The United States advanced to the gold medal game but lost 3–2 to Canada, earning the silver medal. On January 2, 2026, she was named to the roster for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina, a selection considered reassuring after she had been left off the 2023 World Championship roster and served as an alternate in 2024. She was one of 21 players from the 2025 World Championship gold medal team named to the Olympic roster and one of 11 returning from the 2022 Olympics. Zumwinkle made her senior World Championship debut in 2021, scoring a goal in each of her first two games, and finished the tournament with four goals. She won silver medals at the 2021, 2022, and 2024 World Championships, and gold at the 2025 World Championship.