MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Whitecaps, the newest and possibly best team in the National Women’s Hockey League, occasionally practice in an arena that is the closest thing to a women’s hockey museum in this hockey-loving state.

Ridder Arena, home of the University of Minnesota women’s team, features sprawling murals high at each end, honoring the program’s Olympians and All-Americans. The Whitecaps stars Lee Stecklein and Hannah Brandt, gold medalists for the 2018 United States Olympic team, appear on both. And the All-American mural includes one of the Whitecaps co-coaches, Ronda Curtin Engelhardt.

All were on the ice for a recent practice, with Engelhardt, 32, even joining her players for postgame sprints. But nothing in the arena acknowledges the Whitecaps’ leading scorer, Jonna Curtis, a left wing who was never a Golden Gopher, an Olympian or an All-American.

That the unheralded Curtis, 25, leads in the Whitecaps in goals (eight), assists (11) and points (19), rather than one of the team’s three Olympic gold medalists — wing Kendall Coyne Schofield is the third — illustrates the deep statewide talent pool. Minnesota was the first state to sanction girls high school hockey, in 1994. According to USA Hockey, more girls and women play hockey in Minnesota than any other state: close to 14,000 in 2017-18, the most recent season available.