JUNE 20 • 2024 | 53
J
N

E

lle Hartje is a 
professional hockey 
player.
That title was added to her 
name June 10 when the 2019 
Jewish News High School 
Athlete of the Year was selected 
by the New York team in the 
fifth round of the Professional 
Women’s Hockey League draft. 
The 23-year-old Bloomfield 
Hills native, Detroit Country 
Day School graduate and 
former Yale University women’s 
hockey star was the 25th of 42 
players drafted in seven rounds 
by six teams as the league gears 
up for its second season.
“I’m so glad the waiting game 
is over. Now I know where I’ll 
be playing,
” Hartje said 
The PWHL draft was held 
at the Roy Wilkins Auditorium 
in St. Paul, Minn. Hartje and 
other draft-eligible players 
arrived at the event on a purple 
carpet, and posed for pictures 
and were interviewed after they 
were selected.
“It was nerve-wracking, but 
in a good way, waiting to hear 
your name be called,
” Hartje 
said. “I knew I was going to 
be drafted. I just didn’t know 
when and by which team. I was 
blown away by how well the 
draft event was organized. The 
league made all the players feel 
like the professional athletes 
we are.
”
Hartje is joining a New York 
team that can use her help on 
the ice. 
The 5-foot-5 forward ended 
her Yale women’s hockey career 
this winter as the program’s 
all-time leader in career assists 
(116) and points (168), and she 
also gained a reputation as a 
tough defensive player.
New York finished in last 
place in the PWHL’s regular-
season standings last season — 
winning just five of 24 games 

— so it had the No. 1 pick in 
the draft.
It selected Sarah Fillier from 
Princeton University, a forward 
on the Canadian national 
team that won the gold medal 
at the 2022 Beijing Winter 
Olympics. League scouts have 
called Fillier “a generational 
talent.
”
The team has a new coach, 
former Colgate University 
women’s hockey coach Greg 
Fargo, and is looking for 
stability after playing home 
games at three sites last year.
Training camp will begin in 
October.
With professional hockey 
in her future, Hartje started 
looking for an agent after the 
Yale women’s hockey season 
ended. 
She chose a Jewish agent. 
Jesse Lichtenberg is president 
and CEO of New York 
City-based JL Management. 
Lichtenberg represents two 
other players who were drafted 
June 10.
Hartje didn’t play for Yale 
during the 2020-21 season 
because of the COVID-19 
pandemic. So, she spent the 
season in Slovakia playing for 
a club team and the Slovakian 
national team.
She lived in Bratislava, where 
her maternal grandparents, Jan 
and Eva Rival, were born, lived 
as adults and got married.
Hartje is the daughter 
of Tod and Nicole Hartje, 
who have four children. Tod 
played hockey at Harvard 
University and won a national 
championship. Nicole was 
captain of the women’s tennis 
team at Harvard.
The family attends Temple 
Shir Shalom. 

Send sports news 

to stevestein502004@yahoo.com.

Five years after being named a 
Jewish News High School Athlete of 
the Year, Elle Hartje hears her name 
called at the Professional Women’s 
Hockey League draft.

New York, 
 New York

STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

SPORTS

PHOTOS: PROFESSIONAL WOMEN’S HOCKEY LEAGUE

Rocking a Detroit 
Lions jacket, Elle 
Hartje arrives on the 
purple carpet at the 
Professional Women’s 
Hockey League draft.

Elle Hartje is 
interviewed at the 
Professional Women’s 
Hockey League draft.

