Meet Mackenzie Elliott!

Tell us about yourself!

Hello beautiful people! I hope you’re having an amazing day today! My name is Mackenzie Elliott and I’m proud to now say I’m a WHL Ambassador! Now, a little bit about me: I’m a proud Indiana-grown girl and I’m currently a high school student. I play hockey for the Indiana Thunder, which is a somewhat coed team—there is one other girl on the team.

How did I get here and why did I want to play? Well, I can’t say it was an easy process but with determination I got there. Also, with continued support from friends and family! It all started out with a new multi-purpose arena, in which we were putting an old hockey team in that not many knew about. I had this drive to go to a game, so we did something different and tried out a hockey game! I absolutely fell in love with it!

At the time I really wanted to play football but that wasn’t really an option. I wanted to play because I would get to tackle, but watching hockey completely changed my view. So then I became obsessed with the game, you could say my family and friends knew their fair share of hockey after I finished talking about it. I wanted to play but money was the big factor in not being able to. Thankfully, I made my way to middle school and about my third week there a hockey club sheet came out. I was extremely excited and begged and begged to play, then I finally got to play!!!

This program has helped me out tremendously! I caught on to the sport pretty fast and already knew how to skate, so with good progress I was selected to be given a scholarship for the house league. It was difficult at first, along with all the pressure of being the only female player in my division (besides our goalie), this was also my first season playing with experienced players, and not to mention it was checking! It was really hard to get accepted as a player and to keep up, at times I wanted to give up but I didn’t.

In my first house game I scored and it was a goal I’m not sure I could ever repeat it again. Later in the season, the select travel team recruited me on to their team due to one of their players getting sick. Fast forward into the season and I was scouted by an all-female team up in northern Indiana but I had to decline due to the location and travel expenses.

After this I was selected to go to Philly for the Hockey Is For Everyone camp! It was an amazing experience and I even got to watch my first ever NHL game, not to mention my favorite team, play against our rival in the Stadium Series! Go Pens!! I also got to meet Monique Lamoureux-Morando with her gold medal! This was one of my favorite hockey memories!

Now to where I am right now: I tried out for three of my hometown teams and successfully made one! I can’t wait for the season to start! I hope that everyone has a great season and remembers to never give no matter where you come from, your gender, what you look like, or anything for that matter—you can do whatever you put your mind to!!!

WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO BE A WHL BRAND AMBASSADOR?

I wanted to be a WHL Brand Ambassador for many reasons, one being that I love helping others. WHL has helped me in many ways and I would love to give back to this community. I want to motivate others and share my story with people who may be going through the same thing or process. It has always been my goal to show anyone that they can do anything that they want to do, if you have the drive to do whatever that may be.

WHAT ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO AS A #WHLAMBASSADOR?

The thing that I’m most looking forward to being a #WHLAmbassador is the ability to give advice to anyone who may need it. To be there as a young female playing in a league where girls aren’t really big in the sport. Also as a player they can come to if a problem arises with advice about how they can not let that get in the way of how they play their game!

WHAT’S SOMETHING NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW ABOUT YOU?

A weird talent I have is being double jointed in my fingers.

Some of my favorite hobbies include going 4-wheeling, going to football games, being outside 24/7, having bonfires, going boating, being with my family, hanging out at the fire department, working on my game and working out! I also love helping others and writing motivational speeches!

IF YOU COULD SIT DOWN AND HAVE DINNER WITH ONE FEMALE HOCKEY PLAYER, WHO WOULD IT BE AND WHY?

There are many players I would love to sit down with, including Grace Klienback, Kendall Coyne Schofield, and Hilary Knight! But if I had to choose one out of all of these inspiring women, I would have to choose Hilary Knight. I would choose her because she was the first female hockey player I ever watched. From the day I wanted to play hockey until now I still love watching what she does. The first thing I did when I wanted to play hockey was look up female players and she was the first to come up. She has shown me that I too can play and dominate but also make a difference at the same time! And for that reason that’s why I would choose her.

WHAT’S THE BEST ADVICE YOU’VE EVER BEEN GIVEN IN HOCKEY OR IN LIFE?

The best advice I have been given is if you want something, you have to work for it. Don’t let others bring you down from that goal, just do your thing. This also goes along with my favorite quote, “If you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you’ll be successful.” This advice has helped me to never give up, it shows that if you’re willing to do anything to crush your goal, you can.

WHAT’S YOUR DREAM FOR WOMEN’S HOCKEY?

My dream for women’s hockey ranges from a lot of different things. I would love for the sport to be paid the same as other sports but over that I would just love for the sport to grow. By that I mean I want girls to feel accepted into the hockey world as they should. Also, I would love for the world as a whole to come together and support women’s hockey and to sell out each area for both pro and college programs.

Want to be a #WHLAmbassador?

Get more details and apply here!