The University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey coaching staff announced their 2020 recruiting class Wednesday, with five signees set to join the 2020-2021 Bulldog freshman class. Those future Bulldogs include Viola Chobak (Northbrook, Ill.), Kathryn Davis (Edina, Minn.), Katarina Jobst-Smith (North Vancouver, B.C.), Brieja Parent (Forest Lake, Minn.) and Clara Van Wieren (Okemos, Mich.).


"I'd like to thank my coaching staff, Laura and Ashleigh, for solidifying another strong recruiting class to the University of Minnesota Duluth, said fifth-year UMD head coach Maura Crowell. "These five players bring a little bit of everything to our team- scoring, grit, finesse, size, and speed. Those skills, combined with Clara's, Katie's, and Nina's national team experience, makes this group a formidable one. I look forward to seeing them in Bulldog uniforms."


Chobak, a 2019 graduate of Glenbrook South High School, was a participant in the USA Under-18 Top 66 Camp in the summer of 2018.  One of 18 goalies that took part in the 2018 USA Goaltender Development Camp, Chobak backstopped the Chicago Young Americans U-19 team to a bronze medal in 2018 at the USA Hockey Girls Tier I championship, posting a 1.77 goals-against average and .950 save percentage in three wins and a loss.  In 15 Junior Women's Hockey League games in her senior season with CYA, Chobak registered a 1.28 GAA and .943 save percentage.


Davis will come to UMD with plenty of international experience under her belt, including playing for Team USA at the 2019 U-18 series in Lake Placid, NY earlier this year.  Rostered for the USA side in the 2020 IIHF U-18 Women's World Championship in Slovakia early next year, Davis also participated in the 2019 USA Hockey U-18 Women's National Festival and USA U-18 Select National Player Development Camp.  Davis was also invited to the USA 16/17 Girls National Player Development Camp in 2018 and the U-16 Girls National Player Development Camp in 2017. A Minnesota High School state champion in 2019 as a junior, Davis was also named a Lake Conference All-Conference selection last season, her first at Edina under former UMD assistant coach Sami Reber. 


Jobst-Smith is a member of the German National Team, and was on the Deutsch roster at the 2019 Five Nations tournament in Dmitrov, Russia.  A two-time defenseman on the U-18 German Four Nations teams, she was also invited to the 2019 World Championship Development Camp with Team Germany.  Jobst-Smith spent the 2018-19 season with ECDC Memmingen of the Frauen-Bundesliga league, having played 26 games and recording four goals and seven assists for 11 points from the blueline. Currently with Okanagan Hockey Academy in the Canadian Sport School Hockey League, she has notched eight points in nine games in 2019-20.

Parent was a member of the USA Hockey Girls' 16/17 Players Development Camp in both 2018 and 2017, and prior to that, the Girls' 15 Development Camp in 2016.  A two-time SEC All-Conference honoree in 2018-19 and 2017-18, she was also named an SEC All-Conference honorable mention for the 2016-17 and Rookie of the Year in 2015-16.  The five-year high school letter-winner for Forest Lake High School was also a three-time Spotlight on Scholarship honoree.

Van Wieren brings a lengthy USA U-18 National Team resume to the Bulldogs next fall as a two-year member (2019, 2020) who has twice skated in U-18 U.S.-Canada Series.  A member of the U-18 U.S. team that won a silver medal at the IIHF World Championship in 2019, the 5-10 forward hit the ice in Lake Placid, NY earlier this year after suiting up in Calgary, Alberta in 2018. Van Wieren was invited to two Women's National Festivals in Lake Placid, NY (2019, 2018), as well as two U.S. Girls' Under-18 Select Player Development Camps, including in St. Cloud, Minn. in 2019 and Biddeford, Maine in 2018.   An Okemos, Mich. native, Van Wieren will spend her senior season with Shattuck St. Mary's in the UMHSEHL after playing for Honey Baked out of Michigan from 2017-19.