The inaugural season of the ASU women’s hockey team also marks a historic year in Brooke Kelsall’s career. This season will be the first official season where she’s played on an all-girls team.
Adjusting to the new style of play that a women’s league brings will just be another challenge presented to Kelsall, although no challenge has slowed her down before.
“It’s different playing on an all-girls team,” Kelsall said. “I’m not going to say it’s not different, because it definitely is. But I like it, I really really like it.”
Sure, this year will be different for her for a lot of reasons, but Kelsall is accustomed to different.
A girl among boys
“When I was growing up there wasn't a lot of girls' opportunities in hockey,” said Kelsall. “So I was always the girl on the guys' teams.”
From a young age, when her father enrolled her in house league at a local rink, Kelsall competed alongside the boys.
Like so many girls in the state of Arizona, Kelsall fell victim to the lack of women’s competitive hockey and sought opportunity elsewhere — in the boy’s leagues.
By the time Kelsall was in high school, she made the varsity hockey team at Mesquite. She was the only girl on the team all four years that she played, but said that she never felt uncomfortable.
“The boys protected me on the ice,” Kelsall said, laughing when she remembers her freshman year on the team. “I pretty much had a body guard that first year. If I got hit, he was there to hit that kid. They just always looked out for me.”
In her senior year at Mesquite, Kelsall was named captain of the team. This was not something that she took lightly, as Kelsall felt the opportunity validated all the hard work and effort that she had put in.
Boys' hockey always stuck for Kelsall. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to play girls' hockey, or couldn’t, the boys' level just felt more competitive to her.
“When I was growing up in high school, I always liked to be like ‘Yeah, I’m the only girl on an all-guys' team,'” Kelsall said. “Because then people are like ‘Wow, you must be good.’ It made me feel good about myself."
The fast pace and the physicality of the guys' game are what had her sticking around for so long.
In the end though, it didn’t matter to Kelsall whether it was a boys' or a girls' team, she just wanted to play hockey.
“I didn’t really care where I was playing, as long as I got to play,” Kelsall said. “But since I had the opportunity, I liked playing with the guys.”
"Push yourself, try hard"
Defense is inherently a more physical position, but the physicality level of defense in the boys' game never scared Kelsall.
“I would go into the boards and put myself out there,” Kelsall said. “Of course, I wasn’t putting myself out there to get hurt, but I’d play the position that I needed to play. It was just hockey. Like there’s the puck, I need to be there.”
Kelsall has never shied away from a challenge or having to put in extra work. It was this work ethic and attitude that got her named captain her senior year of high school.
Even though it was the coach who chose her as the captain, that didn’t mean that all of the boys were accepting of Kelsall in her new role.
“Some of the new kids took a moment to be like: ‘Why is she captain, she’s a girl,' but as the season went on they respected me more,” Kelsall said.
But Kelsall proved through her four years that she had what it took to be captain her senior year, and that she deserved it. Now, with the ASU women's team, she is provided the chance to prove why she deserves to be a part of history.
Getting the chance to represent the inaugural team for the women's program is something that Kelsall holds as a very special honor.
"I am actually really, really excited just to be a part of this," Kelsall said. "Just to be able to be a part of this all. When they asked me to play all I could say was wow. I've very overwhelmed by all of it, but there's so much excitement for just our first game."
How does Kelsall feel about opening doors for girls, especially in the Valley, to play hockey at a higher level?
"It feels great, especially when girls are coming to me and asking me what they can do," Kelsall said. "I like to help people so when they're like: 'Oh, you're on the first ASU women's team what should I do to get there?' I always say the same thing: to push yourself and try hard. It feels good to have people look up to me."
Setting the stage for younger girls to someday be able to play at this new collegiate level is something that hits close to home for Kelsall. Her younger sister is now the only girl on the boys team at Mesquite as she begins her freshman year.
"I feel like I set a thing up for her there, and I just want her to make her proud here," Kelsall said. "I want her to try hard and then I want to try harder so she has more of a reason to try hard. Even though she annoys me sometimes, I want her to do well. I want her to go places. I want to help open doors for her, and her friends and all the other girls."
Kelsall's hard work and drive to push herself have not gone unnoticed — they're what helped her make the team, but they're also what her coaches and teammates admire about her.
"Everyone works hard on the team, but she is also one of the one's who is always working super hard on her sprints," head coach Lindsey Ellis said. "You know, no one likes conditioning, but she's always pushing herself and is at the front of the pack. Her hard work really stands out."
For freshman goalie Jordan Nash-Boulden, Kelsall is a key part of the team that makes her job easier.
"She really makes an impact in the game," Nash-Boulden said. "As a goalie, you really notice the play of your defenseman. She's really been great out there. She has a lot of talent, and she knows what to do out there, she has experience. She brings speed and skill back to the defense, which is really important."
Before the team's first two exhibition games, Kelsall had one objective for the season: to score at least one goal. In the second period of the team's second game against the Anaheim Lady Ducks, Kelsall did just that, crashing the crease to score the game-winning goal that handed the team their first-ever sweep.
It should be no surprise that Brooke was already pushing herself toward her next goal.
"I've scored one goal, and it was sweet," said Kelsall, still out of breath from the game. "But now I've got to focus on scoring a second one."
Kelsall has one message to the girls out there who are hoping to be in her skates one day.
"Try your best. There are always going to be those haters out there that are knocking you down," Kelsall said. "I definitely had that when I was playing with the guys. You just have to put that in the back of your head and push yourself. It hurts, but if you keep pushing, keep striving for it, it's going to work out. I didn't think I was ever going to be playing college hockey, and here I am, and I'm proud of myself.
"Keep playing and going for your goals. Go out there and try your best, who cares if you're a girl. Who cares if you're the only girl out there. Go out there, and show that guy that you're better than him. That you deserve to be there."
Reach the reporter at tsclark5@asu.edu or follow @taylorsedona on Twitter.
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