It’s been nearly a decade since Austin senior Lily Holtz decided she wanted to play college hockey and after seven busy summers playing hockey in the Twin Cities and a lot of time in the rink with the Packers, Holtz has found her future.

Holtz recently made her commitment to play college hockey at Division III College of Saint Scholastica, which is located in Duluth. She will also receive a partial academic scholarship.

The Saints are off to an 8-3-1 overall start to this season. The CSS women’s hockey program has produced six American Collegiate Hockey Association All-Americans and 13 First Team All-ACHA selections.

“A couple years into playing hockey, I knew I wanted to play in college,” Holtz said. “It’s kind of always been a dream. Last year I only had a couple of offers from schools and I was nervous that it was coming to an end. Now that I’ve found a school that I really like and know I’ll be playing hockey for four more years has made this season (in Austin) even more fun for me. The pressure of this being my last year is off. It’s relieving.”

Holtz has traveled to play hockey in the cities over the past seven years and has spent a lot of time driving back and forth for practices and games.

“The love of the game outweighed anything that would hold me back like money, gas and the two hours of driving back and forth,” Holtz said. “I was OK with it because I was able to play with a really fun group of girls and I also had the competition that I knew I needed to make me better.”

Holtz had played defense and forward throughout her career with the Packers and she’s slated to play defense at CSS. Playing both positions has given Holtz a good feel for the game of hockey as she’s seen it from different perspectives. But she is looking forward to being a full-time defensive player in college next season.

“I’m really excited,” Holtz said. “They do things a little bit different with how they play their defense and I’m really excited about their style. They play a very aggressive defense.”

Holtz has a lot of work ahead of her in the rink as she looks to make the jump to the next level of hockey. She also has a lot of work ahead of her in the classroom as she’s looking to go major in pre med and pursue becoming a medical doctor. Holtz learned early on what it’s like to be busy whenever her volleyball and hockey seasons collided, and she’s had to make room for a day of school, two practices and home work all in a 24-hour period.

“I was very busy this fall. It was a lot, but it ended up working out,” Holtz said.

Holtz became interested in the medical field due to her dad Troy’s influence.

“My dad was a paramedic in town for a long time and he teaches EMT classes now. Growing up around that and hearing about it all of the time, it was the most interesting thing to me,” Holtz said.

The Packers will host their holiday tournament this week, with the first game taking place on Thursday.