Elkins continues career in hockey

Elkins continues career in hockey

By Brian Farrell, QBSN Staff Writer

The temperature in Wasilla, Alaska today is hovering around 37 degrees. The temperature tomorrow in Dallas is about 82 degrees and in Hamden, it is 61. The distance between the three locations is just a hair over six thousand miles.

After growing up in Alaska, and going to school in Connecticut, Jordan Elkins is ready to move to Texas to continue her life’s journey.

courtesy: quinnipiacbobcats.com

“I grew up in the North, and I’ve lived in the East, so now it’s time to give the South a try,” Elkins said jokingly with a bright smile. “It’s only fair to give that part of the states their due time with me.”

Most of the time a six thousand mile trip is closely related to a mid-life crisis to find out who one is, but for Elkins there is no mid-life crisis or search for inner-self. She knows who she is, and she is hockey.

After a stellar four year career with Quinnipiac, the senior captain is ready to move on to the next step in her life and like many collegiate athletes she is blessed with the opportunity to continue her life in the sport she loves.

Elkins was recently named the head coach of the Dallas Stars Elite Hockey Club’s U-14 team and U-12 Tournament team, and the assistant coach for the U-19 team.

“I just can’t let hockey go,” Elkins said warmly. “All the people it has led me to meet, all the things I’ve learned and all the places it has led me to across the darn United States, I just couldn’t let it go. So when this opportunity arose. . . I knew I could make a difference.”

The Dallas Stars Elite Hockey Club gives young players, both male and female, a chance to play at a competitive level with plenty of exposure from college scouts.  As a recent NCAA athlete, Elkins knows that on-ice play isn’t the only thing that scouts look at.

“School is a big part of it,” Elkins said. “I know a number of NCAA coaches from helping with camps and clinics and they know if a girl has a good attitude or is good in school and all these factors play in to whether the coaches will select a player.”

In addition to a balance of stressing academics and hockey, Elkins wants to simply fill the gaps she had when she was playing youth hockey.

Elkins, Right
courtesy: quinnipiacbobcats.com

“Looking back now I wish I had a little bit more fun with it, because hockey gets hard on its own when you get to high school and college,” she said.  “I never had a girl my age or a little bit older than me that had just gone through it and was there telling me exactly what was ahead.”

Elkins never had much of a female hockey figure in her life. From the age of five all the way through high school Elkins played hockey in a boy’s league. The closest girls’ league was located an hour away, but it wasn’t the distance that shied Elkins away from switching leagues. After all we know she isn’t afraid of traveling.

“If I could still play with the boys, why would I play in a girls’ league,” Elkins questioned with another smile.

Elkins’s hockey career started when she was five years old and continued for a couple of years.

“I actually quit playing hockey for a year to figure skate because all the boys were making fun of me.”

Such criticism is exactly what positions Elkins so well for a career in coaching.

“I would never tell someone that they can’t do something … I would love to have just one girl look at me and listen to me and look at how I coach and how I try to help them and say, ‘I can do this’ because you can.”

Luckily for Quinnipiac, and now for Dallas, Elkins eventually decided to lace the black skates up again and hit the ice with a stick, instead of a dress.

It’s clear that the magic of hockey has rubbed off on Elkins.

“If I can just make one girl want to keep playing and like hockey a little bit more, it’ll all be worth it.”