Content warning: The following contains mentions of suicide
Arriving at Suffolk University after what she called a “stunted college process,” Leslie Steiner was sold on playing for a new women’s hockey program after a conversation with then-head coach Taylor Wasylk. Four years and three All-Conference honors later, Steiner knows she made the right choice.
On the ice, Steiner is a tenacious, two-way defender who played big roles on the Rams’ special teams units, quarterbacking the team’s power play and being a key cog of the penalty kill. As a top-pairing defenseman, Steiner logs 20 minutes of ice time per game with regularity. Head coach Abby Ostrom credited that to Steiner’s development and value to the team.
“It’s easy to watch our team and notice her. I think she brings a lot of presence. Physically, in terms of being a stronger kid, but also she can skate very well. She’s a powerful skater, she’s got a long stride, she’s hard to knock off the puck and she’s got a great shot,” said Ostrom. “You instill a lot of confidence in her, she plays in all aspects of the game. She ran our power play and was the quarterback of that, and she was one of our strongest defensemen on the penalty kill. She’s someone that you want on the ice 20 minutes a night because she can handle it and she brings the level of the team up with her.”
Steiner brings a mentality on the ice of beating any player to pucks, owning her quadrant and being the backbone of the team.
It’s that mentality that has helped her pick up three all-conference honors in her four years in a Suffolk uniform. She and Madison Duff are the only two defensemen in program history to achieve the feat.
Steiner recalled being baffled receiving all-conference honors early in her career, as she earned a spot on the conference’s third team her freshman year before getting named to the first team a year later.
“My freshman year and sophomore year, I received nominations and made the teams and I was honestly so baffled because there were so many unreal defensemen in our conference,” said Steiner. “Just seeing a bunch of different girls from Endicott and even playing with Duff, it was so mind blowing to me. My competition pushed me to be better for sure. It’s very rewarding to see that happen.”
While Steiner had plenty of success early in her career, including a Commonwealth Coast Conference championship game victory to go with the pair of all-conference honors, she also had to deal with a loss that she thought unimaginable.
In her sophomore year, Steiner’s youngest sister Jessie committed suicide as a teenager. Steiner was left in total shock of the sudden loss of one of her sisters, just one day before the team’s suicide awareness game that season.
Steiner credited hockey as a reason she was able to return to school a week later and appreciated her teammates for not walking on eggshells around her and being supportive of what she was going through.
Ever since, Steiner takes a moment before every game she has played to talk to her sister in her head. A hockey player as well, Steiner put her sister’s number and birthday on her stick and also wrapping her stick with purple and teal tape, the colors that make up suicide awareness ribbons.
Using her sister’s memory as motivation, Steiner hoisted the CCC championship trophy along with her teammates almost four months after the tragedy.
The championship gave the Rams a spot in the NCAA tournament and a matchup against Middlebury College, which Steiner said was one of her favorite memories of her Suffolk career.
“That whole tournament, that was a lot of fun,” said Steiner. “Having a new program and being part of it as a sophomore, I was like ‘wow, this is so cool.’ I knew I made the right decision coming here.”
This season, Steiner became an assistant captain for the Rams, wearing a letter alongside seniors Sam Molind and Sammy Lassman, plus graduate students Kate Pohl and Lily O’Neil. Steiner placed a big emphasis on being uplifting in the locker room as a leader.
“We had really great leaders like Madison Duff and Shana Cote. They were great, and honestly they were so welcoming and invited us all to have a say in the locker room, which I felt was super easy as I got older,” said Steiner. “I think within the locker room, especially when we’re not winning or you can see our energy going down lower, just uplifting the girls is huge. Having everyone’s back is something that I feel was super easy for me, and my teammates made it really easy to be a leader, they all bought in.”
On the ice, Steiner produced three goals and seven assists for a Suffolk squad that finished with a 9-15-1 record in the regular season. That was enough to give Steiner her second All-Conference first team honor and the third of her career.
“Around the league, people know her,” said Ostrom. “If you show up to our game and you know nothing about hockey, she’s someone that you can pinpoint and say ‘she’s good,’ and that she has a presence among everyone else in this division.”
Though it was a largely successful year for Steiner, her Suffolk career came to a jarring end during the team’s senior day game against Western New England University Feb. 22.
Steiner went down along the boards in the defensive zone and was in immediate pain, laying on the ice and unable to get up. The impact of the collision she got in resulted in a completely torn MCL, leaving Steiner as a spectator for the Rams’ playoff run.
“The second it happened, I knew something wasn’t right,” said Steiner. “My only concern through that was ‘I’m out of the playoffs my senior season,’ and I was.”
The Rams ended up getting revenge on the Golden Bears in the first round of the playoffs with a 4-1 road victory before losing in the second round to Endicott. Steiner admitted that it was a mental challenge for her to be a spectator as Suffolk’s season came to an end, and there was nothing she could do to change that.
“I think she handled it to the best of her ability. It’s a really tough way to end your career, and I feel really bad for her because of that,” said Ostrom. “As anyone and everyone knows, she would’ve made an impact in those [playoff] games. I think we did pretty well against WNE without her, but in that Endicott game, it’s always gonna be that ‘what if?’”
Reflecting on her time as a Ram, Steiner acknowledged that it hasn’t truly hit her that her career is over. At the same time, she credited the program for being in her corner from day one and is excited to see what comes next for the team.
Ostrom showed appreciation for Steiner’s positivity and consistency, something she credits for her success.
“She always comes in with a smile on her face. She’s always consistent, especially on the ice,” said Ostrom. “You know what you’re gonna get from her. You know she’s gonna work hard, you know she’s gonna skate hard. You know every now and then her shot will hit the net, and that will be a good day because it is one of the hardest shots in our league and Division III. She’s been fun to work with and fun to get to know as a human.”
