From WKAR.org
By Aleesa Luekcer
Hockey, especially at MSU, remains a male-focused sport. However, MSU’s women’s club team, especially players Schlie and Gross-Turkey want to make a statement about the power of their hockey to help inspire girls to play.
Women’s hockey remains an uphill climb in a sport historically dominated by men, marked by limited funding, unequal access and a lack of visibility. But for players like Erin Schlie and Julia Gross-Turkey, juniors on Michigan State’s women’s club hockey team, the challenges extend beyond the rink.
They’re not only challenging the system, they’re paving the way for the next generation of girls who want to see themselves in the game.
Schlie and Gross-Turkey have fought for recognition in ways that extend far beyond their skills on the ice, from braving the long drives to practices and games, to changing in makeshift locker rooms.
Schlie began in figure skating lessons in her hometown of Hinsdale, Illinois and from there it turned into a lifelong love of hockey.
“Originally, my dad put me and my sister in figure skates and my brother in hockey skates,” Schlie said. “One day, I just told my dad I wanted to go to hockey practice.”
Schlie and her dad went to a local used sporting goods store that same day to pick out hockey gear and she never looked back. She played with boys for three years before transitioning to a girls team as more opportunities opened up.
“There just weren’t many girls playing at my age back then,” she said. “So we played in boys’ leagues until more girls joined.”
Schlie decided to stick with the sport even when her teams weren’t winning.
“We were terrible. We’d get excited if we won five games in a season,” she said. “But I loved it. The environment, the teammates, the atmosphere. It didn’t even matter that we weren’t winning.”
Schlie continued playing through club changes and competition levels motivated by her father — who coached many of her teams.
“He pushed me to be better every summer with training plans, ice time, everything,” she said. “Seeing how much my dad and brother loved it. I knew there was no reason I couldn’t love it just as much.”
Schlie had a mostly positive experience playing on coed teams as a child, but that wasn’t the case for every girl in the sport.
“I was lucky,” she said. “The boys on my team were still young, so their egos hadn’t developed yet. We all got along, and I never really had any problems.”
She began playing with boys around age nine and said the atmosphere was fun and inclusive—at least at that level. But by high school, she noticed a clear shift. One of her peers, a girl on the junior varsity team at the same school where her brother played varsity, faced relentless teasing.
“They would make fun of how she skated, how she dressed, even her gear,” she said. “They’d pretend to be her friend, then turn around and laugh behind her back.”
The treatment was enough to push her away from school hockey entirely.
“I didn’t want to go through that,” she said. “She loved the game, but those boys made it miserable for her. It’s not about being good or bad—it’s about being respected. And every kid deserves that.”
Gross-Turkey MSU’s goalie, was born and raised in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and didn’t step onto the ice until she was nearly a teenager—much later than most of her Canadian peers. But today, she is proudly standing in the crease, not just as a goaltender, but as a trailblazer for representation in women’s hockey.
“Hockey is huge in Canada, but I tried every other sport before I got into it,” Gross-Turkey said. “I didn’t even start skating until I was about eight or nine, and I didn’t become a goalie until I was 12. That’s considered really late.”
Gross-Turkey transferred to MSU in the fall after two seasons at Indiana Tech, and she is now studying criminal justice with a minor in Native American studies. Her journey through hockey has taken her across southern Ontario—from Stoney Creek to North York—often shifting teams to find the right fit and better opportunities.
Gross-Turkey credits her family, especially her father and grandfather, for helping her stay motivated.
“My parents were incredibly supportive, especially with goalie equipment being so expensive,” she said. “And my dad always believed in me. We’d tour universities, and he’d say, ‘That can be you.’ That really stuck with me.”
Breaking into the hockey world as a young Indigenous woman wasn’t easy though.
“Politics in hockey are huge, and that’s part of why I moved around so much,” she said. “Sometimes you’d go to a tryout and know the team was already picked.”
She also struggled to find cultural representation on and off the ice. Gross-Turkey, who is Mohawk and from the Six Nations of the Grand River, made sure her identity was part of her gear.
“My goalie mask represents my community. That’s really important to me because I didn’t have that kind of representation growing up,” Gross-Turkey said.
The challenges still remained, even though playing in the U.S. came with access to more women’s teams than in many parts of Canada.
“I never had a woman coach until I was older,” she said. “And when I trained outside my team, I’d be the only girl—changing alone in the locker room, feeling disconnected.”
Altogether, the most painful struggle for Schlie and Gross-Turkey has been the lack of respect and visibility given to women’s hockey. They fight for recognition, for ice time, for the same opportunities afforded to their male counterparts.
“We don’t get the same funding or recognition as the men’s programs. We’re always fighting for ice time. We’re always fighting for resources,” Gross-Turkey said. “But we have to keep fighting. Our voices deserve to be heard.”
Gross-Turkey is also the only Canadian on the MSU women’s club team and often finds herself reflecting on how far she’s come.
“Sometimes I’m in the net and I think, ‘This is really cool. This all worked out,’” she said with a smile. “It’s been worth it. When I was growing up, the only time we saw women’s hockey was at the Olympics and now there’s more visibility, and I want girls to see that they belong on the ice too.”
Schlie and Gross-Turkey have found a deep sense of empowerment in their struggle. For Schlie, being a woman in hockey means showing the world that gender does not define ability.
“Every time I step onto the ice, I’m showing that women belong here,” she said. “We are just as strong, just as capable, and just as deserving as any man who laces up his skates.”
For Gross-Turkey, the bond with her teammates is what makes the journey worth it.
“It’s not just about hockey for us,” Gross-Turkey smiled as she said. “It’s about family. The other women on this team are my sisters. We push each other to be better—not just on the ice but in life. We’ve all faced some of the same obstacles, and we’re stronger because of it.”
The fight isn’t just for them. It’s for the next generation of young girls who dream of stepping onto the ice. Both Schlie and Gross-Turkey are committed to creating a space where young girls can feel welcomed, empowered and confident.
“I want them to know there’s a place for them,” Gross-Turkey said, her voice filled with passion. “The sport has so much to offer, and I want them to feel like they can step onto that ice and own it.”
(Originally published at https://www.wkar.org/wkar-news/2025-05-06/michigan-state-club-hockey-stars-erin-schlie-and-julia-gross-turkey-carve-their-legacy)
