Makaila grew up with her family in the rural areas of Surrey, honing her love and skill on the ice. From a young age, Anderson found herself participating in the local youth hockey programs. As a member of the Minot Wolves, Anderson would travel with her team to compete against others her age, though her mother wasn’t always sure that it was the best thing for her. Nevertheless, travel and play Anderson did, and she was good at it.

It was hard to miss her out on the ice. She was often one of the quicker players, and her shorter stature made her easy to spot as she zoomed her way around the rink.

“It was pretty easy to have friends and family come watch her play because she was fun to watch,” said Karla Anderson, Makaila’s mom.

Gerald and Bernie Mitzel, Makaila’s grandparents from Rugby, would also often make the trip out to watch her play, even though it might have been a little bit chilly for them.

Submitted Photo Makaila Anderson poses in her U.S. women’s bandy uniform with her bandy stick. Photo courtesy of Karla Anderson

As Anderson got older, she found herself wanting to take her hockey career to the next level. When she was old enough to start playing high school level hockey, Anderson had a big decision to make. Living in rural Surrey, the opportunities to play higher-level hockey were limited. At the time, Minot did not offer co-opting for sports. In order for Anderson to continue on her desired path for hockey, she would have to enroll in the Minot School System. Though the decision was tough, she made the choice to play with the Minot Magicians.

During her time at Minot High School, Anderson was a member of the volleyball, soccer and hockey teams. Her parents sent her to hockey camps during her tenure to help her develop her skills on the ice, and all the hard work paid off. While a member of the Magicians hockey team, Anderson served as team captain in both her junior and senior years and was the runner-up for North Dakota’s Miss Hockey her senior year. She ended her four-year tenure at Minot High School with a total of 106 points. Anderson was always looking to improve her game on the ice and wanted to continue her hockey career into college.

Anderson spent time touring numerous colleges, trying to find a place to continue her career, but nothing seemed to fit for her. That was until she received a call from Robert Morris University in Chicago, Illinois. At Robert Morris University, Anderson played for five years as a member of the Eagles’ ice hockey team in the American Collegiate Hockey Association. She served as team captain for the Eagles for three years and was also a member of the 2015 Central Collegiate Women’s Hockey Association second playoff team. As a member of the Eagles’ ice hockey team, Anderson was able to travel across the Midwest for hockey, including to Nebraska, Wisconsin, Illinois and northern Minnesota. Her family once again found themselves traveling to cheer her on. While at Robert Morris, Anderson scored 152 career points.

After graduating college with her degree in Exercise Science and Health Studies, Anderson had the opportunity to move to Burnsville, Minnesota, where she helped coach two high school girls hockey teams, coached youth program hockey and now she works for the Minnesota Ice Cougars, a girls AAA hockey program in the Twin Cities as a program coordinator. Though she played a much larger part in coaching and mentoring the next generation of female hockey players, Anderson still loved the thrill of playing on the ice. It was during her very limited free time that she discovered a very similar sport to ice hockey: Bandy.

Bandy, similarly to ice hockey, is a winter sport in which two teams don ice skates and vie for points by scoring in the opposite teams’ goal. Though similar, the field of play for bandy is much larger than that of a standard ice hockey rink, close to the size of a typical soccer field. Bandy also sees players using their sticks to manipulate a ball rather than a puck. The sport is popular in Scandinavian and certain eastern European countries, and though the origin of the sport is debated, the first official rules were compiled and published in England in 1882. The official governing body for the sport is the Federation of International Bandy and the International Olympic Committee officially recognized Bandy as a sport in 2001.

Anderson is currently in her second season playing in the American Bandy Association and is a member of the Kodiaks Bandy Club. After helping the Kodiaks win the the U.S. Women’s Rink Bandy League championship this past summer, Anderson brought her talent on ice to the international stage as she made her U.S. Women’s National Team debut at the 2026 World Championship in Finland this past week.

The United States has a storied history in the Women’s Bandy World Championship. While the first men’s world championship began in 1957, the first women’s championship debuted in 2004, featuring Finland, Russia, Norway, Sweden and the United States. The U.S. is just one of four countries to have participated in every women’s championship since its inception. And while the U.S. hadn’t seen much success in the first years of the championship, the U.S. women’s team medaled for the first time in 2023, taking home third place after their victory against the Netherlands. The U.S. placed third again in the last Women’s Bandy World Championship held in 2025.

This year, the World Championship kicked off on Wednesday, Jan. 14, in Pori, Finland at 8 p.m. (12 p.m. CST) featuring just four competitors, including the United States. The U.S. played its first round against Norway.

As more players like Anderson find their way to playing bandy with some of the top international talent, they will be able to represent the United States, their hometown teams and the kiddie rinks where they first laced up their skates. The World Championships represent a rare opportunity for talented athletes like Makaila to show off their skills on the ice and show the world the hard work that the bandy community has put into building the sport – work that has been largely done out of the spotlight.