The 33-year-old became the first player who to have played more than 300 games for the German women’s national team on Saturday and she’s only the second German to reach the mark after legendary Udo Kiessling, who played 320 international games.

Evers played her first game for the team in 1996 and remembers it well.

“It was in Crimmitschau and I was just 15. I scored three goals against the Czech Republic and all my family was there,” she said.

Since then she has represented Germany in 11 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championships – including nine at the top level – and in two Olympic Winter Games: Salt Lake City 2002 and in Turin 2006.

After the German women’s national team had missed the qualification for Vancouver 2010, the goal for the new season is self-explaining for the Hanover native, who’s also a staff sergeant in the German army.

“My main goal is to be nominated for Sochi and if I’m allowed to be there I want to play a good tournament with the team,” she said.

Four European teams had their first big test of the season when they convened for a Four Nations Tournament held in Vierumäki and in other towns nearby. For the Germans, one of the qualifiers in Sochi with Japan being the other, it wasn’t an easy event against some of the top European nations. The underdog started with a 3-0 loss to Sweden and Evers’ jubilee game was an 8-2 defeat against Finland.

In the last game against Russia, the Germans managed to keep the score low despite being outshot 44-16, but with 80 seconds left in regulation time Iva Gavrilova scored her second goal in the 2-1 victory to lift her team to a second-place finish in the tournament.