(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)
Over a year ago, now-sophomore Aubrey Beskid made the trek to Tempe, Arizona from Hershey, Pennsylvania to start a new life and join a new program with the Arizona State women’s hockey team.
Following in Beskid’s footsteps is her longtime line partner Maya Elliott, a freshman forward who also hails from Hershey. On the same line once again at ASU, Elliott and Beskid have played together since they were barely teenagers with the Hershey Jr. Bears.
The Hershey Bears is the American Hockey League affiliate for the Washington Capitals and with the Jr. Bears, gave players like Beskid and Elliott opportunities to develop their hockey careers with travel hockey.
“We’ve played together since we were 11 or 12 and we’ve been on the same line together since 14U,” Beskid said. “We definitely know how each other plays and it’s really nice to know that.”
The two always have each other’s back whether they are on or off the ice.
“One time in 14U some girl hit Aubrey in front of the net and I was really mad,” Elliott explained while laughing. “I went in and wrecked that girl because she touched Aubrey.”
When the two first start playing as teenagers, Elliott and Beskid did everything together from playing on the same line to getting benched. While their relationship began in hockey and were always friends after that, the forwards became closer around the time Beskid began attending Hershey High School and even more so when she was a senior there and Elliott was a junior.
The friends roomed together at the Penn State hockey camp, where they grew the friendship that led to their continued careers in Tempe.
While she’s a Sun Devil now, Elliott didn’t originally see college hockey in her future.
“Aubrey had me apply to ASU and it took me fifteen minutes,” Elliott said. “I came out to visit the school and I came out with her to the games and she introduced me to coach and I ended up really liking it.”
During Beskid’s childhood, her dad had made jokes that she could break the family tradition of attending Penn State and instead go to college at ASU. Once she discovered in high school that the Sun Devils had a women’s hockey program, it was an easy decision to enroll.
“I was excited when I found out she was going to ASU,” Elliott said. “I knew we had one friend going and that she’d be okay since this is the biggest school in the country. She was so excited about it and I knew she was going to do great.”
This isn’t the first-time former youth teammates have been reunited at ASU. Junior Jordan Nash-Boulden began her hockey career on the same team as sophomore Catherine Jones. Freshmen Abby Steinman and Sheridan Gloyd played together for the Lady Coyotes. Senior KC McGinley played with former Sun Devil Taylor England.
“It’s so fun to see it come full circle, I had that experience when I went to Boston, I played with girls and against girls I knew,” McGinley said. “I’m so stoked for them because what are the chances play together unless you plan it?”
Beskid and Elliott have found themselves laughing over the same advice they received not only from previous coaches in Hershey, but from ASU head coach Lindsey Ellis too.
For Ellis, it helps to have two players who previously played together for a long time since they are already connected on the ice. It has also been beneficial from a recruiting standpoint for the program.
“It’s crazy because we are starting to have friends and family start contacting us more and more,” Ellis said. “To already have two here that are teammates from Hershey, Pennsylvania, that’s crazy in the first place.”
For the players, it allows them to think quicker in-game and make passes that are simply second nature.
“Because we know how each other players, it’s fun to be able to do the same systems,” Beskid said. “Maya and I always know the other is behind us so we have that drop pass. It’s just something that has been drilled in us since we were 14 years old. It makes us feel confident knowing where each other is.”
Beskid, a Criminology and Criminal Justice major, tallied three points last season. She notched two assists in the team’s opening weekend against Grand Canyon University and her first collegiate goal on the road at GCU in December.
Elliot, a civil engineering student, has a bright future with the program as well after tallying her first collegiate goal against GCU as well in the team’s opening weekend, coincidentally on an assist from Beskid.
“She’s always happy,” Ellis said of Elliott. “She’s loud and vocal and that’s really awesome to see out of a freshman.”
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