ORONO, Minnesota – Over the next few years, you’ll likely find rising Benilde-St. Margaret senior Lulu Rucinski at her home in Orono.

However, whether this is the case in the city of Orono, Minnesota, or in Orono, Maine, depends largely on the time of year.

Rucinski, a 17-year-old defenseman for the Red Knights, calls the town of Orono, a suburb of the Twin Cities, home. But she recently committed to play Division I hockey at the University of Maine in a town called — you guessed it — Orono, which was a pretty fun coincidence. When she heads to college next fall, she’ll have a home in two towns with the same name.

“It was kind of a full-circle moment. When I visited (the campus), I just knew this was the place I wanted to play in college,” she said of her decision. Rucinski had been talking to the coaching staff at Maine since June 15, 2023, but waited until March 2024 to announce her commitment because she wanted to explore all of her options and take an official visit to campus to make sure she was choosing the perfect program for her needs.

“When I visited Maine, it felt like home. I fell in love with the staff and the players, and the rink is incredible – and now there are a lot of renovations that will probably make it even better,” she added of the Black Bears program. The campus is located north of the city of Bangor, and the university accepts about 9,000 students each year.

That Rucinski eventually moved up to Division I hockey is perhaps no surprise given her family ties to the sport. Her father, Mike, grew up in Grand Forks and played college hockey at St. Cloud State (1996-99) before embarking on a professional career in the ECHL for several years.

Although Orono has been her home for some time, Lulu was actually born in Elk River and attributes her love of the game to the strong hockey scene and hockey families in her community. She has memories of watching athletes like Kelsey King in Elk River, who went on to play Division I games for both Minnesota State and Ohio State, and enjoying the outdoor ice at the Handke Pit with her older brother.

After spending a few years in Elk River, Rucinski and her family moved to Orono during her early years of elementary school. Later in her hockey career, Lulu made the Orono High School girls varsity team as an eighth-grader in 2020-2021. Despite trying to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated rules and restrictions on high school sports, Rucinski had a very good season with the Spartans, scoring 15 points in 15 games.

Three other eighth-graders made the team with Rucinski this season – Zoe Lopez (who now plays at Minnesota State), Macy Rasmussen (who committed to Ohio State) and Alex Paulsen – and she said having a group of young players make the jump to the varsity team together helped them all adjust quickly to the higher level of competition.

After eighth grade, Rucinski decided to attend high school at Benilde-St. Margaret’s. Her first season on the Red Knights’ 2021-2022 varsity team didn’t go according to plan. In one of the very first games of the year, played against rival Edina, the 5’7″ defenseman broke her wrist and was then injured for most of her freshman season. She finally returned to the ice just before the start of the postseason, but wasn’t quite at 100% health, so she wasn’t necessarily playing like she normally does.

Eli Swanson / The Rink Live

Missing so much of her freshman season at Benilde-St. Margaret’s definitely motivated Rucinski to train hard in the offseason after her injury so she could make an immediate impact the following year. While she was out with her broken wrist, she also made an effort to watch and learn from Emma Peschel. She was the Red Knights’ leading scorer at the time and one of the state’s best defenders. Peschel now plays at the Division I level at Ohio State University and won the 2024 women’s national title with the Buckeyes last winter.

“I think the injury really changed my perspective… when you’re taken away from your sport for so long, you just find a whole different love for it,” she said. “Without that injury, I wouldn’t be as mentally strong as I am today, without being able to overcome that adversity.”

Rucinski made a big jump in the offseason and had a big impact on the Red Knights team as a sophomore, becoming their top scoring defender in 2022-23. She scored 23 points in 23 games despite re-injuring herself mid-season in a game against Northfield, breaking two bones in her foot. She missed a few games because of the injury, but it was much easier to play through and rehab than the broken wrist she suffered the year before.

By the time she entered her junior season a year later, Rucinski had established herself as one of the Red Knights’ best defenders. She had another successful season in 2023-24, scoring 21 points in 27 games played. Benilde-St. Margaret’s also happened to be one of the best Class AA teams in the state of Minnesota that year, and the team had lost just three games before suffering a heartbreaking 5-4 loss in the Section 6AA championship game to Edina, who went on to win the state title, which ended the season.

After losing to Edina each of the last three postseasons she has participated in with Benilde, Rucinski believes the team has a good chance of getting past its rivals in the upcoming 2024-25 year. The Red Knights lost few seniors this offseason and the roster now includes a whopping five Division I players signed for this winter (Rucinski, Bailey Gray, Ella Pasqua, Kendall Hassler and Addie Morris).

“It just feels like this group we have now is going to be on a whole new level. We’re excited to get going,” she said of the upcoming season. “It’s going to be a fun season. We’re going to be good and I think we’re going to shock a lot of teams this year with our speed and ability.”

Rucinski, who will be a senior this fall, will be one of the Red Knights team captains alongside the aforementioned Morris, Gray and Hassler. The 5-foot-7 defenseman is excited to lead the team and continue to improve her game, which she describes as a mix of defensive defense and someone who isn’t afraid to get on offense and score some points along the way. Rucinski says her strengths lie in her hockey sense, which helps her get the puck out of the zone and make a strong first pass to start the game.

Eli Swanson / The Rink Live

The 17-year-old will spend the upcoming season at Benilde-St. Margaret’s before heading to her new home of Orono, Maine next year to play for the Black Bears in Division I. Even though she’s coming to Maine next summer, she’ll see some familiar faces, including former Lakeville skater Gracie Hanson, who begins her freshman year at the university in the fall.

When Rucinski goes to college next year, she’s thinking about majoring in something related to business, perhaps marketing, but she hasn’t made a final decision yet. When she’s not on the ice playing hockey, you’ll probably find the high school student wakesurfing on the lake or honing her skills on the pickleball court during the summer.

Fun Fact: You may see Rucinski called by her official first name, Campbell, but she became Lulu pretty early in her life. Her older brother couldn’t pronounce Campbell as a young child, and the name Lulu has stuck with friends, family, coaches, and pretty much everyone around her ever since.