Sports Spotlight: Britta Curl

BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) - The Lamoureux twins have set the bar very high when it comes to women’s hockey accomplishments by North Dakotans, but Bismarck’s Britta Curl, this week’s Sport’s Spotlight, is not that far behind.

Curl led the University of Wisconsin to the NCAA title last season, her 3rd with the Badgers. She also helped the U.S. Women’s National Team win the 2023 World Championship.

“I feel like I sort of started to approach that top level in the game that I’ve dreamed of playing at with the National Team, playing division one and winning a national championship. Those are things you can only dream really,” said Curl.

“C” is not only the first letter in Curl’s last name. It’s also on her college jersey because she’s the Wisconsin captain.

“I think if I would have told myself as a 12-year-old that I would get the opportunity to be a captain at Wisconsin, that would have shocked me. It still kind of does,” said Curl.

Curl calls it a cool responsibility.

“Anything from small things, like picking what we’re going to eat, what kind of snacks do we want and what time do we want to do things, to big things like conflict management. How do you get people on the same page? How do you figure out how to get 23 girls working together as a team? Those are all the different range of roles you have,” said Curl.

When Curl was in the 8th grade, Timmerman said on the air that he thought she would be North Dakota’s next Olympian. It almost happened but COVID kept her out of Beijing in 2022.

“That was a pretty wild ride that whole year from training to trying out for a couple of months to getting cut and then getting called back up and then getting COVID. It was pretty hard with the emotions and the roller coaster of it, but looking back now I can really appreciate the lessons I learned through it,” said Curl.

Curl said it gave her the confidence of knowing she can play at that level. At the High School level, Britta was a three-sport standout at St. Mary’s. She’s always shot lefthanded.

“I think it has to do a little, but when you’re righthanded and playing lefty, your right hand is on the stick at all times, so that’s the hand that controls and stick handles, so maybe that has something to do with it,” said Curl.

She has scored some big goals already but there’s one against Ohio State in the “Fill the Bowl” game that stands out.

“Ended up going 3 on 3 in overtime, I went out and got the puck on the top of the right circle and just took a shot right over her shoulder and won the game in overtime,” said Curl.

In addition to playing hockey, Curl is working toward her degree in kinesiology at Wisconsin.

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