Kylie Delre committed herself to playing for the Women’s Ice Hockey Team at Central Michigan University in 2021 to continue her passion for the sport. After a year of anticipation, she played her first game for the team on Oct. 1, 2022. However, her life wasn’t always about tearing it up on the ice.

“I went to a private school growing up, and it definitely went downhill in middle school. I had a lot of issues with my mental health and with my peers,” Delre said.

 Life wasn’t easy on Delre growing up, but things really started to look up when they reached high school. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she was able to figure out who she was, and what she wanted out of her future. One of the cornerstones of her personal development was hockey.

“… at one point, I went to my mom and I’m like, hey, you know what, I think I want to try hockey. I’d never had an ice skate on my foot before, but that wasn’t going to stop me,” Delre stated. 

She was a dancer for five years of her life, but her mom signed her up for hockey lessons and everything changed. They are now entering their eighth year playing hockey. They are entering their first college season as a starter for Central Michigan University, but it almost didn’t end up that way. 

“Central Michigan initially was not on my radar when I was looking for schools because I was originally looking at NCAA Division Three Teams, which is a completely different hockey association that is a lot more competitive than the ACHC, which is the league we play for at CMU and is a club league. And then I just kind of decided that I wanted to really have fun with [hockey] for however many years I have left with it in college. That’s when I really decided I wanted to play club hockey in college at CMU,” Delre recalled. 

They committed to playing for CMU in October of 2021, almost a full year before their first game. The team’s first game of the season took place on Oct. 1st, 2022 against Michigan State University, where they clinched out a 3-2 overtime victory. This experience was incredibly exciting for the whole team, Delre included.

“So the energy was definitely building when I hit that ice for the first game. I was a starter, you know, standing there during the national anthem, and it was incredible just to feel like everything that I’ve been thinking about for the past year and just the excitement for the school and being able to represent my school on the ice… It all just kind of came together and made for an incredible night,” Delre said.. 

Delre’s college experience is only just beginning, and there are many more CMU games to look forward to this year. They currently have a 4-0 undefeated record and look to retain their streak against Northern Michigan University later this month.