Girls Play Hockey

Sydney Schafer scored 42 goals in 23 games last season for the Orchard Lake St. Mary’s/St. Catherine girls high school hockey team. Photo courtesy Schafer Family

Sydney Schafer hits the ice

By Steve Stein

From competitive dancer to one of the best girls high school hockey players in the state —that is Sydney Schafer’s remarkable backstory as she begins her junior season on the Orchard Lake St. Mary’s/St. Catherine Academy girls hockey team.

“I was a competitive dancer for five years. Then I decided I wanted to play hockey when I was 9,” says Sydney. “I’d watched my brother play travel hockey and I thought, ‘I can do that.’ My parents said I could dance or play hockey. I couldn’t do both, so I chose hockey.”

Schafer, 16, attends St. Catherine. She had a quite a season last year for the first-year St. Mary/St. Catherine team. The Brighton resident scored 42 goals and had 26 assists in 23 games for St. Mary’s/St. Catherine, which went 18-5 and advanced to the semifinals of the Michigan Girls High School Hockey League Division 1 state tournament before losing to eventual state champion Grosse Pointe South. St. Mary’s/St. Catherine made it to the finals of the Catholic League tournament before losing to Grosse Pointe University Liggett.

Besides being an offensive juggernaut, Schafer is a team leader. She’s a two-year captain.

“Everyone loves Sydney,” says St. Mary’s/St. Catherine coach Craig Ward. “She has fun, she’s ‘loud’ in a good way, and she works with our younger, less experienced players.

“She’s also an extremely hard worker, she loves to skate, is serious about hockey and very competitive,” she went on. “You can tell she was raised right. She’s respectful to everyone and mature for her age. From a coaching standpoint, she’s very attentive. She wants to learn.”

The latter quality is extremely important if Schafer wants to achieve her goal of playing hockey in college. She says she wants to play for Adrian College, which has the only NCAA women’s hockey program in the state. It’s a Division III program. “That’s my dream,” says Sydney.

For the dream to become reality, Schafer needs to add a required element to her natural athleticism that has served her well so far on the ice. She had only skated recreationally before starting to play hockey. She’s now an excellent skater who uses her speed and hands to baffle opponents. At 5-foot-5 and 115 pounds, she isn’t one of the bigger players on the ice, but she holds her own when it’s time to be physical.

So, what does she need to add to her hockey repertoire? “We’re working on Sydney’s hockey IQ,” Ward says. “That’s getting better day by day. She certainly has the talent. Now it’s a matter of her learning to make the right decisions on the ice so she can put herself in position to score and defend when it’s needed. That’s what coaches are looking for at the next level.

“She needs to have college coaches watch her play over the next two years. We’re working on that.”

Those college coaches don’t need to worry about Schafer’s work in the classroom. She’s a 3.7 grade-point average student at St. Catherine, which is in Wixom.

Schafer’s parents are a big part of the St. Mary’s/St. Catherine girls hockey team. Her mother Reta is the team manager. Her father Rob runs the scoreboard at home games. Her brother Blake, 15, is a sophomore at Detroit Catholic Central High School. He’s on the Catholic Central junior varsity white hockey team this season.

Like Blake, Sydney is a travel hockey player. Sydney also plays golf and lacrosse at St. Catherine. Even though she’s only played lacrosse for two years, Alma College has offered her a spot on its NCAA Division III women’s lacrosse team.

Sydney has some sage advice for girls who are thinking about playing hockey. “Go for it,” she says. “I went from one extreme to another, from competitive dance to hockey, and I’m glad I did.”