“She’s a brick … house,” was the lyrics from The Commodores song “Brick House,” which the hockey arena at Gustavus Adolphus College, Lund Arena, played after junior Mary Shefveland, Hamline’s women’s ice hockey goalie, deflected a penalty shot in the third period.

“I guess you can say she’s made a comeback,” senior forward Jordan Verleye said. “She obviously got hip surgery but the way that she improved over the offseason and came back, she looks awesome this year. I feel 100 percent confident having her in a majority of our games. I’m proud of Mary. She’s a good friend and a good teammate. She really has proved that she wants to be here and she wants to play.”

Shefveland started her second career game as a goalie for the Pipers last Friday, Nov. 21, against Gustavus. It was also the second time she’s played after recovering from an injury that kept her out the majority of the 2013-2014 women’s hockey season.

Last November, Shefveland discovered she had an impingement in her left hip due to over bone growth. She first sensed something was wrong before warming up in practice.

“When I got on the ice I was like ‘something hurts. I don’t know if I pulled a muscle.’…halfway through practice, I couldn’t do anything,” she said. “Everyday it got worse…I tried practicing and there was no way [I could play through it].”

Her head coach Steve DeBus said he knew what she was going through because he also had to surgically replace both of his hips.

“I know exactly what she’s saying, what she’s going through,” he said. “It’s a hard thing to describe what that pain is and what it limits you to doing. There’s a period of time where you can’t understand what hurts on your body, but [you know] something’s not right.”

Shefveland decided to go through with surgery on Dec. 9, 2013, and the road to recovery put an end to her season but she was determined to not let it end her career.

The Maple Grove, Minn. native, began playing hockey at age 10 after playing pond hockey in the backyard of her cousin’s house. She said at first she was reluctant to play as she only wanted to skate because at the time she was a figure skater and gymnast. However, she said after she played she enjoyed hockey and after filling in as goalie, she decided that was the position she wanted to stick with. There was one thing that motivated her to continue to play.

“The fact I knew that I could get better,” Shefveland said.

When she was a senior in high school she played in a hockey tournament in Madison, Wis. and that’s where DeBus noticed her talent. Shefveland said one of her friends told her she overheard the former Golden Gophers’ goalie DeBus, who was the University of Minnesota’s men’s ice hockey goalie from 1993-1998, talking about her and that she should contact him, so Shefveland sent DeBus an email.

“He had me on a tour [at Hamline] and right away I was like ‘this is definitely the school I want to go to,’” she said.

She said since she’s been at Hamline, she’s built strong friendships with her teammates on the hockey team.

“Literally, every single friend I have is from hockey,” Shefveland said. “My best friends are on my hockey team.”

She said getting back on the ice, with her teammates, was motivation for her to go through rehab. Following surgery, she was on crutches for a month and had two physical therapy appointments a week and had to do five exercises a day to stay on schedule.

Tara Dooley, Hamline’s assistant athletic trainer, worked closely with Shefveland through her rehabilitation process.

“Right from when Mary was injured she was like ‘what do I got to do to get back,’ so she’s been really self-motivated, really positive throughout the whole thing –  I don’t think I’ve ever heard her complain,” Dooley said.

Determined to get back on the ice, Shefveland not only met her physical therapy needs, she surpassed them and was a month ahead of schedule.

“That was so exciting, every time I got cleared to do something,” she said. “[I felt I was] that much closer to being normal again.”

During the last two weeks of the 2013-2014 season, she was cleared to skate again.

“I was so pumped, the first thing I did was call my coach and ask if I could skate a little bit on the ice,” she said.

DeBus complemented Shefveland on her work ethic throughout the recovery process.

“Mary has done a great job of taking that on and not letting that stop her or slow her down,” DeBus said.

Shefveland said she’s thankful for the support from her coaches, teammates and the team doctors for helping her pull through the recovery process.

“If I didn’t have that I don’t know, I think I’d still be on the fence about playing [hockey again],” she said.

This season, Shefveland has proved to the team during training camp and practices that she’s better than what she was before surgery. She was rewarded by being named starter for the team’s season opener against St. Catherine on Nov. 14, which was the first time she played a game since Nov. 1, 2013.

“It’s really rewarding to see her back on ice and she’s playing really well this year and she’s kind of gone above and beyond the coaches’ expectations,” Dooley said. “It was a lot of fun to see her play the first game of the season this year after not being able to play last year.”

During her first start, Shefveland picked up 28 saves against St. Kate’s in a 3-1 loss. She also started at Gustavus and faced their high potent offensive attack that outshot the Pipers 39-12 and defeated the Pipers 6-3. Shefveland flashed moments of greatness as she piled up 32 saves, including one on a penalty shot.

“She’s a competitive person,” DeBus said. “I think she’s got work ethic, I think she’s got desire and passion for Hamline hockey and for the position of being a goalie.”

Shefveland said she’s happy to be skating again and being able to feel that “adrenaline rush.”

“Skating just gives me energy,” Shefveland said. “You know the runner’s high when you get super excited after running…I got the hockey high.”