Sheeeeeeee
Shoots and
Scores!
Lebo’s Ellie Marcovsky shows what it takes to be part of a
growing number of females in hockey.
By Melanie O. Paulick
A
sk anyone who’s witnessed Ellie
Marcovsky shooting pucks in her
garage and they will tell you that
hockey is no longer just a boys’ sport. While
it’s true that female hockey is not entirely
new, it’s only recently that coed and all-girls’
teams have become more popular, helping
to establish a new wave of excitement for the
sport. Twelve-year-old Mt. Lebanon resident
Ellie has not only been a fundamental part of
such changes but also a critical player for local
teams.
Ellie’s been on the ice for most of her life.
She began ice skating when she was five and
started playing hockey at age seven. Ellie’s
father, Andy, encouraged his daughter’s early
start in hockey, being a fan of the sport from
a very young age himself. Back then, kids
played a lot of street hockey, but not many
actually played on the ice. Ellie’s parents
wanted to give her the opportunity to do the
real thing.
When she began playing hockey at age
seven, Ellie participated in the Little Penguins
learn-to-play program as well as the learnto-play program at the Mt. Lebanon ice rink.
Then she began playing in the Mt. Lebanon
developmental league for beginner hockey
players. When Ellie was eight years old, she
started playing for the Mt. Lebanon Hornets
in the Pennsylvania Amateur Hockey League
(PAHL). This league, explains Andy, is made
up of teams in or near southwestern PA. The
Hornets are a predominantly boys’ team that
plays its home games at the Mt. Lebanon
rink. Ellie has just finished her fourth season
playing for this team.
“In a typical season,
this team plays 25-30
league and tournament
games in various cities
across the United
States and Canada.”
When she was nine, Ellie also began to
play for the Pittsburgh Penguins Elite Girls
organization. Marcovsky says that this is an
all-girls’ traveling team, with approximately
half of its players from the greater Pittsburgh
area and the other half from Eastern
Pennsylvania as well as Ohio, Kentucky
and West Virginia. The league is made up
of teams from cities across the midwestern
United States. Andy explains that, “in a
typical season, this team plays 25-30 league
and tournament games in various cities
across the United States and Canada.” Ellie
recently completed her third season with the
Pittsburgh Penguins Elite.
For three of Ellie’s four years with the
Hornets, she was one of two girls on the
team. For the other year, she was the only
girl. While her father had no misgivings
about it, Marcovsky admits his wife, Tiffany,
was a little hesitant at first. “My wife’s frame
of reference was the NHL-level game with
200-lb. men crashing into one another.”
But youth hockey is very different; it’s all
skating and skill and player sportsmanship is
taken very seriously. Once Tiffany saw this
firsthand, she was fine with it. Marcovsky
says there have been no issues from other
parents or teammates on the coed (Mt.
Lebanon Hornets) team. He says “Ellie’s
been really fortunate