Shortly after 8 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 24, junior forward Amber Galles made history as the first player to score a goal for the ASU women’s hockey program. Believe it or not, there was a time in her life when hockey wasn’t front and center.
“When I six or seven, my dad really wanted me to play hockey because my older brother played, but then whenever he got me on the ice I would consistently fall on my butt,” Galles said. “I wanted nothing to do with it. They even tried to bribe me across the ice with candy and nothing worked. Eventually, when we moved out to live on the lake they got me moving on the rink in the back and got me on a team.”
No Restrictions
Macrodactyly is defined as an uncommon birth defect that results in toes or fingers being abnormally large due to the overgrowth of the underlying bone and soft tissue of the digit — a medical condition Galles has had her entire life.
Though you would never know that underneath her hockey glove she suffers from the condition on the pointer and middle finger of her right hand, and she won’t take the time and all the fancy words to explain it to you.
Galles shrugs her condition off, not in the way one does when they are insecure, but with the confidence that this in no way defines her.
“I remember always being at hospitals every year when they checked for growth, and I thought it was weird,” Galles said. “But honestly, for a long time I thought that it was something that everyone had. My parents always told me that when I was young, so I never really had a problem with it. It was kind of a naïve thing, but it’s helped me be confident with it now.”
Galles never let her macrodactyly impede her play, saying that it doesn't physically affect her during hockey. She shrugged off any comments that people might have made about her and just focused on her game.
Her drive to succeed is something that is noticed by her teammates, while her condition never is.
“On the ice, Amber is a great leader,” Dannika Borges, senior forward and fellow alternate caption, said. “She’s extremely encouraging and she’s always positive. She tries to help out every girl with whatever she can. She’s proven she’s got speed and a shot. She scored our first two goals.”
Helping Others
Galles is currently attending ASU earning a degree in kinesiology. She hopes that she can use this degree to pursue a career in physical therapy.
While she has thought about pursuing a career in sports, she knows that they can be very competitive and difficult to find. So while she is still undecided, she is currently entertaining the idea of going into either pediatric or geriatric therapy, which aids either small children or the elderly.
Her draw to those two fields stems from the want to help those who may be unable to fully help themselves.
Galles decision to pursue physical therapy originated with an unfortunate accident that her mother was involved in.
“A couple of years ago, quite a few now, my mother was crushed between two cars,” Galles said. “So she has permanent leg damage and she’s always at physical therapy. I’ve always liked how they’ve been able to help her and I wanted to do something like that.”
In a freak turn of events when Galles was younger, her mother ended up pinned between two cars in their driveway. The want to be able to help her mother and others like her is what drove Galles to choose her major and career path.
It is also her own medical condition that caused her to lean toward physical therapy.
“I have not had to go to physical therapy with my hand, since mine is a milder case than most, but if I chose to have surgery I will,” Galles said. “They told me if I do anything now (regarding her hand), that I’ll need physical or occupational therapy.”
Galles is aware that while she has pretty much maintained full use of her hand and her condition does not impede her much, she is lucky.
There are others out there who have been more impacted by Macrodactyly, or other constricting medical conditions, more severe than her own. The thought of one day being able to help those people out is something that makes Galles smile.
“Don’t let it get to you,” Galles said as her message to others who have to deal with medical conditions similar to hers. “Don’t let other people say that you can’t do something. Don’t let them get in your head when they say that it’s weird or not normal.”
When it comes to surgery, Galles has two decisions. One is to attempt a surgery that would reduce the size of the growth on her finger. The other, more rash option, is to remove the finger completely.
It is a daunting thought to envision going through with either of those decisions, but it is one that Galles has had before.
One Last Run
“I was considering going through with one of the surgeries before I came out for the team,” Galles said. It is a statement that she makes softly as she reflects on her life the past few months leading up to this season. “I never really thought that I was going to play when I moved down here. So having it a part of my life again, feels like getting more of my life back.”
Only a few months ago Galles was facing the thought of not playing competitive hockey much sooner than she would have liked. But life has a funny way of working out when one least expects it.
“Hockey has kind of always been my go to, my stress reliever for sure,” Galles said. “My closest friends have always played hockey because we’ve grown up together. It’s just become a part of me. So it’s something that I’m always leaning toward.”
While searching for any level of women’s hockey to get involved in, after a semester at ASU, she stumbled upon the information for the ASU women’s hockey program that was just forming.
The rest they say is history. Well, Galles certainly is.
Just like that history has been made. #22 Amber Galles has scored the first goal for @ASUWomensHockey! pic.twitter.com/RDdoMSOaMR
— Taylor Sedona Clark (@taylorsedona) September 24, 2016
Just a few months removed from contemplating trying to reduce the size of her finger or removing it entirely, Galles sits in Oceanside Ice Arena having accomplish a lot in a very little amount of time.
Three weeks ago, she was named one of three alternative captains for the team. Only four days ago, she scored the first goal in ASU’s program history, and the only two goals that won the team’s first ever game.
“It’s really crazy, this all kind of came on so fast,” Galles said about being named alternate captain. “But I’m super honored to be on the team, this inaugural season, with all these girls who’ve never really played together, and I’m kind of helping to leading it into its first year.”
Both Amber’s mother and father were at the rink to see their daughter make history.
“I didn’t know what to feel honestly after the goal,” Galles said. “We were all just really excited and looking around, because I like to go up to whoever got the assist and make sure that they get praise for what they did, too.”
After the game both head coach Lindsey Ellis and assistant coach Matt Shott said they had called that it would be Galles to score first, before the game. The way that she had carried herself leading up to the season debut made it no surprise that she found the back of the net first.
"We called it," assistant coach Matt Shott said of the goal. "We both called it before the game."
Galles’ name is already lining the pages of ASU women’s hockey’s history book and the season hasn’t even officially started.
It’s hard to imagine that the extremely talented, hard-working young woman almost never played college hockey.
“This is basically my last run at a competitive hockey experience,” Galles said. “So I’m really hoping to be able to go out there and give it my all before my time is up.”
It’s been a heck of a run for Galles so far, and it’s only the beginning.
Reach the reporter at tsclark5@asu.edu or follow @taylorsedona on Twitter.
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