Country Day grad continues hockey career in Professional Women’s Hockey League

BEVERLY HILLS — Elle Hartje made sure everyone knew where she was from June 10 as the 2024 Professional Women’s Hockey League Draft took place at Roy Wilkins Auditorium in Minnesota.

A four-year starter and captain for Yale University’s women’s hockey team, Hartje, a 2019 Detroit Country Day High School graduate, repped a Detroit Lions jacket as she was selected in the fifth round of the PWHL Draft by PWHL New York.

“She takes a lot of pride being from Detroit, and it’s pretty unique, because she was the only one in the draft from Detroit, or Michigan, for that matter,” Nicole Hartje, mother of Elle Hartje, said. “She wanted to take a lot of pride in being from Detroit.”

Hartje dominated throughout her tenure with the Bulldogs, breaking the single-season assist record (35) her sophomore year, rebreaking it with 39 her junior season, and becoming the school’s all-time career assist (116) and points (168) leader.

The accolades quickly added up for Hartje as she was named Ivy League Player of the Year in 2023, two-time All-Ivy and three-time Eastern College Athletic Conference honoree, and the Mandi Schwartz Scholar Athlete Award winner for demonstrating leadership excellence on the ice, in the classroom, and in the community.

You could go on for hours recognizing Hartje for the various achievements she received while at Yale, but none is bigger than being able to pursue a career in the sport she always loved.

“I never thought that I would be here post-college with being able to play hockey and do the thing that I love,” Hartje said. “It means a lot that this is a possibility now for every girl going into college that loves hockey and wants to keep playing.”

A family of Ivy League graduates with her mother (Nicole) and father (Tod) both attending Harvard University, Hartje attended Yale with life after college more focused on her career field than hockey.

Professional women’s hockey has gained significant traction over the years, but the turmoil between the Premier Hockey Federation and the Professional Women’s Hockey Players’ Association seemed to shelve the sport’s popularity at times.

Now under new ownership with the Mark Walter Group, who is part-owner and chairman for the Los Angeles Dodgers, the newly formed Professional Women’s Hockey League, founded in 2023, is hoping to take women’s hockey to the next level.

For Hartje, it was more about seeing someone in a similar position as her take that next step, and the PWHL Montreal forward, who played at Yale, was just the person.

“She (Dalton) was sort of someone that I looked up to and sort of admired and was always close with, so my junior year when she decided to take that route, and now the PHF merged and she’s in the PWHL with Montreal, so I was able to have someone to look up to who was in a similar position as me,” Hartje said.

Things got difficult quickly for Hartje at Yale as a 25-point freshman season ended with the young skater nursing a broken leg.

As she was rehabbing and eager to get back on the ice, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and the hockey season was severely in jeopardy.

So Hartje, whose grandparents are from Slovakia, turned to her roots and joined the European Women’s Hockey League as a member of SKP Bratislava.

“My mom and my grandma and grandpa, who are from Slovakia, sort of tossed that out there as an idea of just going to play there for a year,” Hartje said. “They were huge in facilitating that. I don’t speak Slovak, so my grandma and grandpa reached out to the Slovak Ice Hockey Federation and got the ball rolling on that, and I thought it would be great.”

Hartje’s father, who played in the Soviet Championship League in 1990, was also a shoulder to lean on in regards to what hockey abroad is all about and how to transition.

The 1990 Soviet Union isn’t really a comparison to modern day Slovakia, but it was still the kind of advice Hartje said she needed to hear.

Once she returned her sophomore year, fresh off a year abroad, Hartje came back stronger, faster, and more determined than ever.

“Hockey-wise, it was huge for my development,” Hartje said. “I got back sophomore year and exploded in the college scene because I did a lot of learning and growth while I was there. There was a time difference, so I wasn’t in contact with my friends here as much. It was a little bit isolating, but I had to become my own advocate and my own coach for my development.”

Hartje’s 51 points her sophomore year were the most points for a Bulldogs player in 38 years while finishing as a finalist for Eastern College Athletic Conference Forward of the Year, leading in the ECAC in points per game.

Yale would reach the Frozen Four in 2022, earning revenge on Colgate after falling to them a  week prior and earning a matchup with The Ohio State University.

“We won that game against Colgate in overtime,” Hartje said. “My best friend, Tess Dettling, scored, and she was also my linemate. Colgate had beat us the week before in our barn for the ECAC postseason title in overtime, so the next weekend we went there and beat them in overtime to make the Frozen Four. That was just something where the hockey gods wrote the story, and nobody expected us to make the Frozen Four.”

PWHL New York finished last in the league, which is made up of six teams, but Hartje will have a chance to be a part of the team’s turnaround this year.

Nicole Hartje said she plans on attending as many games as possible this year, but Hartje will also have a massive fanbase watching her at home if the PWHL Draft was any indication as Hartje’s family was there live to cheer on her selection.

“I think on the TV feed you can hear them screaming because they were so excited for her,” Nicole Hartje said. “She had a big fanbase there. It was really fantastic.”