Traverse City native Kelsey Swanson was named Michigan’s ACHA D1 women’s hockey teams’ captain for the 2024-25 season.
In the 2023-24 season, she served as an alternate captain for the team. This past season was her second with the Wolverines, after spending her first two college seasons in the NCAA D1 ranks at Long Island University. She was the first woman from Traverse City to go on to play D1 hockey.
In her two years with the Wolverines, she has recorded 18 goals and 18 assists.
“She’s now one of the faces of our program, I’m so excited for her, and I’m so excited to have her,” women’s head coach Jenna Trubiano said.
Swanson transferred to Michigan to focus on her pre-medical studies. When making the decision, she wasn’t aware of Michigan’s D1 club team until Trubiano approached her about joining.
“It’s really nice, coming from an NCAA D1 team to here I felt like I can lead more,” Swanson said. “Having experienced other teams, I feel like I could give back to them.”
Growing up and throughout high school, Swanson had to be creative to chase her D1 hockey dreams. She played for the Meijer AAA team out of Lansing, and Belle Tire AAA out of Taylor. Playing for Belle Tire meant she had to move to the area to make it work. During that time, she lived in Grosse Pointe with a billet family.
Swanson says it would have been ‘really nice’ to have had high-level options in Northern Michigan, like the newly added Bay Reps led by former Wolverine Taylor Lundberg.
“That’s a really good sign. I think [hockey] it’s growing for sure, and I coached with them over the summer, there’s a lot of good talent there,” Swanson said. “Because we didn’t have all of this in the past, all of this attention, it’s really nice to see.”
