(EDITOR'S NOTE: This week's installment of our Feature Friday Series takes a look at women's ice hockey's Michelle Stock and her love of hockey and how she had to travel great distances just to play the sport while growing up in Texas. Some day, she hopes to help grow the sport so that many more females have a chance to play the game.)

By Dave Sweet
Athletics Student Feature Writer

Living in New England, it can be easy for sports fans to overlook just how good they have it. If you want to play football, you can play football. If you want to play hockey, you can play hockey. If you want to build robots and have them fight non-stop, MIT’s about an hour away. Safe to say, no matter what sport you love, nothing short of injury is going to stop you from playing that sport. For women’s ice hockey’s Michelle Stock, things haven’t always been so easy.

Stock is a resident of Austin, Texas. And to say the least, hockey isn’t at the forefront of athletic priority down there.

“It’s definitely a totally different experience,” said Stock, “I mean I was born in Chicago. My parents were from Chicago. So my family always loved hockey. But then we moved to Austin and there just aren’t a lot of people who play the sport, so it’s not easy to get involved. I remember when I first decided I wanted to play there was only one girl’s team I could play for, and it was in Dallas. But luckily I stuck with it and I just fell in love with the sport.”

On top of her geographical hardships, quite obviously Stock is a female playing hockey. And although that is becoming more common with the emergence of the U.S. Olympic team, she acknowledges it was tough growing up.

“Yeah, I mean sometimes when I would tell people I play hockey they’d give me this dirty look and be like, ‘What? You’re a girl who plays hockey in Texas?’ which is something I got used to. But it doesn’t bother me. I know a lot of girls don’t like to play hockey because of the physical contact or whatever but I’m the exact opposite. See, I grew up playing with the boys, so the physical aspect of the game is what I love the most.”

As a member of the Alliance Bulldogs, a club team in Texas, she was a member of three consecutive teams that made Tier II National Championship appearances. In 2011 and 2012, her team won the title. She hopes to continue her success with the Ravens this coming year.

“It’s going to be a struggle. I mean you have to consider we have twenty-two freshman and we haven’t really gotten a lot of ice time together yet. But I’m positive once we start to get some more practices in and we get to know each other we’re going to have a great time. I get that we’re young but there’s a lot of talent on the roster.”

Off the rink, Stock is a biology major. She loves animals and hopes to pursue a career as a veterinarian. Though just as important, she made clear, are her wishes to stay involved with the sport she loves.

“The sport is getting bigger for girls, which is awesome. But there’s a lot more that can be done. It’s important that -- in order to help the sport keep growing -- girls stay involved after college through coaching and things like that. Hopefully, one day when I have a girl who wants to play hockey, we won’t have to drive all the way to Dallas.”