30 | JANUARY 20 • 2022 

she had to quarantine for two weeks 
because of the COVID-19 pandemic. 
Thanks to family friends, she had an 
apartment in the city where she could 
stay, and food was brought in for her.
She lived in a hotel in Bratislava 
along with her club teammates the rest 
of the time she was there. The team had 
a floor to itself.
Her roommate, Simone Bednarik, 
spoke English.
But the rest of her teammates “spoke 
only serviceable English,” Hartje said.
Her club and national team coach 
spoke broken English.
“I was on my own in a place where 
very few people spoke good English,” 
Hartje said. “And I couldn’t go home 
any time I wanted like I can now (at 
Yale).”
Hartje said she experienced harsher 
COVID crackdowns in Slovakia than 
have been imposed in the U.S., like a 
country-wide 8 p.m. curfew.
“And restaurants were delivery-only 

the entire time I was there,” she said.
But there was time for bonding with 
her teammates, walks in Bratislava, and 
the club team provided three meals a 
day.
When Hartje ate a traditional 
Slovakian meal, she sent a photo of it to 
her grandmother, who has been making 
Slovakian meals for her since she was a 
youngster.
Despite the quarantine, language 
barrier, canceled, postponed and 
rescheduled club league games 
and the cancellation of the World 
Championships in France because of 
the pandemic, Hartje said she loved her 
stay in Bratislava.
It’s certainly a different place than 
Bloomfield Hills or New Haven, 
Connecticut, where Yale is located.
Bratislava, with a population of a 
half-million, is the capital of Slovakia, 
and home to many universities, 
museums, theaters and art galleries. It’s 
situated along the Danube River, near 

Slovakia’s borders with Austria and 
Hungary.
Old Town, a pedestrian-only area that 
dates to the 18th century, is known for 
its packed bars and cafes when there 
isn’t a pandemic.
At the top of a hill is the reconstructed 
Bratislava Castle, which overlooks Old 
Town and the Danube.
Hartje’s mother, Nicole Hartje — Jan 
and Eva Rival’s daughter and Anita Rival’s 
sister — is glad Elle made the trip.
“Elle turned a difficult situation into a 
positive life experience,” Nicole said.
The difficult situation was caused by 
the pandemic, which shut down the Yale 
women’s hockey team for the 2020-21 
season.
Elle took a leave of absence from 
Yale for the 2020-21 school year, which 
opened the door for her to go to Slovakia, 
spend eight months there and play for the 
national team.
She hasn’t been back to Slovakia since 
coming home in late March.

sports HIGHlights

LEFT: Budapest, Hungary is the backdrop for this photo of Elle Hartje, who was in Budapest with the Slovakia national women’s hockey team. 
MIDDLE: Elle Hartje (left) and Slovakian club team linemate Lucia Istocyova show off their bronze medals from the Elite Women’s Hockey 
League’s 2021 playoffs outside the rink in Budapest, Hungary. RIGHT: What’s old in Bratislava, Slovakia? The 18th-century Old Town. Bratislava 
also is a modern city. Elle Hartje proves it, showing off her Starbucks purchase while visiting Old Town.

SIMONE BEDNARIK

TATIANA ISTOCYOVA

LUCIA ISTOCYOVA

continued from page 29

