Ellie Marcovsky has gotten to experience the growth of Pittsburgh hockey, especially Pittsburgh girl’s hockey, firsthand. The Mt. Lebanon native grew up playing boy’s hockey until she was eight or nine. That included playing for the Pittsburgh Hornets and teams at the South Hills Amateur Hockey Association (SHAHA). Then, she joined the Pens Elite girls program where she has remained ever since. Now, she’s poised to follow that path to the next level by playing Division I hockey in her hometown at Robert Morris.
Marcovsky is in her first year on the 16U girls elite squad. The program, which has grown to now include seven girls programs ranging from 10U to 19U has been a great way for Marcovsky to improve her game. It has allowed her to play in her home city and compete both nationally and internationally in high-level girls hockey tournaments.
“The hockey’s been great,” Marcovsky said. “I’ve been fortunate enough to play with a lot of great players throughout the past few years that I’ve been playing Pens Elite.”
The Pens Elite program has proved to be very valuable and enjoyable. In eighth grade, she decided to make a move to further advance her hockey development, and began attending the North American Hockey Academy in Stowe, Vt.
That has proved to be an valuable experience both in terms of hockey and her life in general. She is currently a sophomore at the Academy. While it was admittedly hard to decide to move away from home in her early teenage years, the decision has proved to be very rewarding.
“It was definitely a big challenge, and it was definitely really good for me in my development as a hockey player and even off of the ice as a person just getting experience to live away from home so early,” she reflected. “I think it’s been really good. I’ve been fortunate enough here to play with some really great hockey players here who have been very encouraging and very helpful, and also my coaches too.”
That does complicate things for her Pens Elite commitments, as she is pretty much only able to play for the team before school begins, during holidays, particularly the Thanksgiving tournament that they host and a tournament during Christmas time, and after school ends.
An important consideration is ensuring she plays in ten games during the season, which enables her to be eligible for nationals. This hasn’t proved to be a problem. Despite the potential difficulty in managing her time between two teams, she has been able to succeed. That has stood out to her Pens Elite coach Cobina Delaney.
“Ellie is, first and foremost, a great person and teammate,” Delaney said. “She gets along great with her teammates at PPE, even when she’s absent for portions of our season while attending NAHA. She is very driven, extremely hard-working and dedicated. She had a great summer in the weight room which has directly translated to her play on ice.”
Marcovsky takes a shot during practice- Brian Mitchell
A key part of playing at NAHA is preparing for college hockey. Most of the attendees end up advancing to the college ranks, and the coaches are very helpful in facilitating the process. Marcovsky began the college selection process by touring colleges to learn about different aspects she would be looking for in a school. Then after a summer tournament she came back home, went on a visit of the nearby campus in Moon, and was immediately sold.
“I had gone on a visit a few days after I got home from the tournament,” she explained. “Literally the minute I got on the campus I was like ‘Oh my gosh, this is the perfect place, it has everything I wanted, and everything I’ve liked at other colleges. It’s all together in this one place, and I just love it here.’
“I had a really good feeling from the minute I got on campus, and a few days after the visit I told my parents, ‘This is what I really want, and this is the place where I think I’m going to be happy.’
“I love the people there, the campus, and the hockey team is great and it’s been getting better every year. So really everything about it is perfect and it’s a perfect fit for me in what I’ve been looking for.”
Beyond excited to announce my commitment to play D1 college hockey at Robert Morris University! Thanks to everyone who helped along the way!
— Ellie Marcovsky (@elmarcovsky12) September 19, 2017
Marcovsky is not the first Pens Elite or NAHA member to join the Colonials. Current alternate captain, senior defender Katherine Murphy and junior defender Maggie LaGue both attended NAHA. Current freshmen Morgan Schauer and Anjelica Diffendal played for the Pens Elite program.
However, there is another unique connection that Marcovsky has with RMU thanks to playing for Pens Elite that Schauer and Diffendal did not. Her coach, Cobina Delaney is an alumna of the program, having played four seasons at the school between 2009 and 2013.
This is the first year that Delaney is coaching Marcovsky, and while the college selection process has been going on for her longer than she’s known the RMU alumna, she has proved to be another valuable resource.
“She has been very very helpful with communication with coaches and just being really encouraging,” Marcovsky said.
As far as the type of player the future Colonials will be getting, Delaney offered some insight.
“Ellie plays hard in both ends of the ice,” she said. “She is very crafty in the offensive zone and able to make plays in tight areas. She has great vision, an accurate shot and very strong skating ability.”
These skills were on display when Pittsburgh Hockey Digest photographer Brian Mitchell attended a practice a few weeks ago. Marcovsky is in the yellow jersey during the 2-on-1 drill seen below.
Though Marcovsky is already committed, she won’t start at Robert Morris until the 2020-21 season. That means the next three years before she gets to come back to Pittsburgh to begin her college hockey career, Marcovsky will spend her time split between Vermont and Pennsylvania, with trips all over the United States and Canada scattered throughout. While she spends a majority of her time away from Pittsburgh during the school year, she definitely appreciates any chance she gets to come home.
“It’s definitely really nice to come back home and know that I have a lot of people that are supporting me,” she said. “It’s really exciting to come back home for tournaments and see people in Pittsburgh. … and just to be a part of the Pittsburgh hockey community.”
She is currently getting to experience life away from home now at NAHA. Therefore, the opportunity to have a college experience in an area she was more familiar with, and with more familiar faces around was one she thought would be valuable and enjoyable. The RMU campus and hockey team itself also clearly played a role in her decision to commit to Robert Morris.
“I think it’s going to be really fun to be kind of in my hometown and be able to play for a team I’ve always looked up to,” she reflected. “(I’ve) wanted to be like the players on that team ever since I was little.”
