32 | FEBRUARY 22 • 2024 J
N
E
lle Hartje is one of the
best women’s college
hockey players in the
country.
A star at Yale University for
four years, the senior forward
from Bloomfield Hills set the
team record for assists in a
season with 39 last year and is
the team leader in career assists.
She had 106 helpers as of Feb. 9.
She’s a two-time All-ECAC
First Team selection and she
was named a CCM/American
Hockey Coaches Association
Second Team All-American last
year.
In the classroom, the political
science major has a 3.92 grade-
point average, highest on the
Yale team. She’s a three-time
AHCA Scholar All-American
and ECAC All-Academic Team
member.
Then there’s Hartje’s commu-
nity service at Yale. She’s been
dedicated to it during her time
in New Haven, Connecticut.
The combination of Hartje’s
on- and off-ice accomplish-
ments and work in the commu-
nity earned her ECAC Hockey’s
prestigious Mandi Schwartz
Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Award.
The 12-team women’s hockey
league made that announce-
ment Feb. 9. The award is
named for a former Yale wom-
en’s hockey player and 2010
graduate who died from acute
myeloid leukemia in 2011.
Yale women’s hockey coach
Mark Bolding speaks in super-
latives about Hartje.
“Elle will go down as one of
top players who has ever been
on our team,
” he said.
“I’ve been fortunate to have
coached hundreds of stu-
dent-athletes in my career, but
few can compare to the overall
talent, hockey IQ and academic
aptitude that Elle possesses.
She’s simply amazing on and off
the ice.
”
Hartje has been passionate
about doing community service
at Yale.
“You have a platform as a
athlete, and as a Yale athlete,
and the ability to help. I want
the players on our team to be
known as not just great hockey
players,
” she said.
Yale women’s hockey players
did volunteer work at the Yale
Community Kitchen last fall,
preparing and serving meals at
the student-run soup kitchen.
Hartje organized the effort.
The team holds a bone mar-
row drive named for Schwartz
each spring. Hartje has been
heavily involved in that event.
Hartje is a member of the
Kappa Alpha Theta sorority at
Yale.
She’s helped organize the
sorority’s annual Carnival for
CASA, a spring fundraiser
for Court Appointed Special
Advocates, a national organi-
zation that supports court-ap-
pointed volunteer advocates for
abused and neglected children.
Hartje was a member of
Yale’s Student-Athlete Advisory
Committee and the Yale
Women’s Athletic Council for
two years.
Each college has a SAAC,
which gives student-athletes
input into the rules and regula-
tions that affect their lives.
The Yale Women’s Athletic
Council unites the female
athletic community at the
university through positive
conversations, a community of
acceptance, and the opportunity
to empower, according to its
website.
The daughter of Tod and
Nicole Hartje, Elle was named
a Jewish News High School
Athlete of the Year in 2019 after
an outstanding career at Detroit
Country Day, where she was
a four-time state champion in
tennis and a four-time All-State
soccer player.
Her family attends Temple
Shir Shalom.
Send sports news to stevestein502004@
yahoo.com.
‘Simply
Amazing’
Yale University women’s hockey
star Elle Hartje earns league award
for on- and off-ice excellence and
community service.
Elle Hartje takes a selfie with
her Yale women’s hockey
teammates last fall at the
Yale Community Kitchen.
PHOTOS BY ELLE HARTJE
STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
SPORTS
Underneath the Yale Bulldogs getup
is Elle Hartje, with Yale women’s
hockey teammate Anna Bargman,
last spring at the team’s Mandi
Schwartz bone marrow drive.