All-Minnesota Girls Hockey Player of the Year
Minnetonka’s Layla Hemp
Layla Hemp, who signed with the Gophers, was 15-1 in the net for the regular season with a 95% save percentage.
innetonka’s Layla Hemp, selected as the Star Tribune’s All-Minnesota Player of the Year in girls hockey, is accustomed to unique situations.
One of five Hemp siblings who grew up playing hockey, Layla gravitated to the goaltender position.
“I was always the crazy child who loved to be different,” said Hemp, who improved by facing shots from older sisters Peyton and Josie, both former first-team Star Tribune All-Metro selections.
Hemp also played goalie for a boys hockey team as a mite in Andover.
At Minnetonka, being a goalie means carrying on a proud tradition of netminders that includes Julie Friend, Brynn DuLac, Hannah Ehresmann, Sydney Rossman and Sophia Johnson, who was a senior when Hemp was a freshman.
Excellence is the name of the game, and for Hemp, that meant guarding the net for the Skippers, ranked throughout the season as the No. 1 team in the Minnesota Top 25, the Star Tribune’s statewide, class-crossing ranking.
It also means accepting a Division I scholarship to play at the University of Minnesota.
Hemp’s international profile is just as significant. She represented the United States at the IIHF Under-18 Women’s World Championship in 2024 (gold) and 2023 (bronze) and was a member of the 2023 and 2022 U.S. Under-18 Select Team at the Under-18 Series vs. Canada.
Hemp grew up on an island of sorts in the Andover youth hockey system. Looking back from her vantage point as a senior at Minnetonka, Hemp estimated there was a three-year window, both younger and older, without another goalie in sight.
That changed when Hemp enrolled at Minnetonka and had to navigate daily competition in the crease from teammate Ashlyn Hazlett, another Division I goalie committed to Bemidji State.
Hemp and Hazlett arriving as freshmen at Minnetonka made each of them better, said Troy Iverson, the Skippers’ goalie coach. The duo didn’t get bitter — they got better.
The friendly competition began when they became sophomores and were angling for the starting varsity role. Hazlett insisted she never contemplated transferring. She recognized that the competition means “we both get better almost every day.”
Watch: Meet Layla Hemp
“Layla has a compete level better than most goalies in the state,” Iverson said, “And when Ash is on the ground, she is the fastest goalie I’ve seen.”
Hemp and Hazlett are locker buddies in the dressing room, where Hemp is a vocal leader as a captain and Hazlett leads by example.
“You don’t have this very often with two goalies,” Iverson said. “They are Division I recruits, and that is on them. I’m truly lucky to work with this group.”
Their career statistics are close, so what separates the pair? Hemp holds the edge as a competitor. Even Hazlett concedes as much. Goalies play one game at a time, and Hemp keeps getting tapped to start for the defining matchups.
A rivalry game at Edina this season was one such showdown.
“We knew we had to win that game,” said Hemp, who stopped all 26 Hornets shots to earn the 1-0 shutout Jan. 10.
“The players have confidence when she is back there,” Hazlett said.
At Minnetonka, Hemp helped the Skippers secure three section titles, a state runner-up finish and two third-place finishes.
“The games we play best,” Hazlett said, “is when we"re doing it together.”
