FIle photo by Travis Rosenau New Ulm goalie Ava Brennan deflects the puck away from the net during a Dec. 13, 2024, home girls hockey game against River Lakes at the New Ulm Civic Center.

NEW ULM — The day before the New Ulm Eagles girls hockey game with Luverne on Jan. 23, New Ulm High School head coach Jeremy Reed talked with his senior starting goaltender Ava Brennan.

“Jeremy told me that I was 49 saves away from 3,000 [career saves],” she said. “And I was not nervous about that, I was more nervous about playing good and I wanted to win.”

While the Eagles dropped a close 4-2 game to the Big South Conference-leading Cardinals, Brennan made history when she recorded her 49th of 50 saves in the game to break the 3,000-saves barrier for her career.

“I was excited when I got it,” said Brennan who has been a starter in goal for the Eagles since she was in seventh grade.

Brennan currently has 3,044 career saves.

“But we had a game to finish and I was more focused on that.”

Brennan, who has 45 career shutouts in her stint in goal for New Ulm, said 3,000 saves is pretty cool.

“I never thought that starting out that I would get that many,” she said. “When I got to 1,000, I thought OK — I am going to be playing for a while, but 3,000 is obviously a lot.”

Brennan said that since her first varsity start in goal as a seventh-grader, her progression and growth has been a big learning experience.

“Coming up in the seventh grade was very scary,” she said. “But I had some really good leadership, so that was helpful. And being a senior, I am one of the leaders on the team, it is fun to see all of the younger girls progress too and I can lead them and see that they are getting better.”

She said that as she has gained experience she has also gained more confidence in her game.

“I was really scared my seventh-grade year,” she said. “And I played more reserved but now I have more confidence and I am more confident verbally on the team — calling plays and helping my teammates out — and I have gotten a lot better at playing the puck and have more confident in that. And I have progressed a lot on making the initial save.”

Her head coach called Brennan a fierce competitor.

“Watching her grow up, I can echo a lot of the things that she said,” Reed said about Brennan, who has a career save percentage of .898. “She can win games for you — she can take over a hockey game — and we have watched her do that quite a bit in the last years.”

There have been games where New Ulm has been outshot by 30 shots, but because of Brennan’s play in goal the Eagles have pulled off a win.

“She has faced 60 shots some nights,” Reed said. “But we have come out with wins — she has the desire to be the best.”

Brennan said that her parents have taught her that someone has to win and someone has to lose.

“But as long as you do your work your hardest it really doesn’t matter — you need a short memory as a goalie.”

This season, Brennan has a save percentage of .935.

Next year, Brennan will take her hockey skills to Bethel University where she will play for the Royals.

“The campus is beautiful,” Brennan said. “I know some players on the team there who I used to play with which has been helpful — they were a big influence on that,” she said. “And coach Brian [Carlson] has been so good to me and we talk all of the time about games. So I felt like I belonged there — he was always talking to me during my recruitment process.”