Path to Penn State runs through the Jr. Flyers for Nittany Lions freshman Leah Stecker

Leah Stecker picked up hockey begrudgingly.

The Penn State freshman started ice skating lessons in elementary school only because her mother, Karen, wanted to be sure her daughter could hold her own at free-skate birthday parties. Then a group of boys she was friends with pleaded for her to try hockey. She eventually folded.

Stecker claimed to lack any discernible skill playing with the boys back then.

Her father, Steve, half-seriously promised he would pay her if she managed to score a hat trick. It could have been a $10 wager. It could have been $1,000, she said. A young Stecker just remembers it feeling like a lump sum for her efforts.

“I vividly remember standing in front of the net and tapping the puck in three times,” said Stecker, of Randolph, N.J. “Then getting in the car after the game, and he was like, ‘I can’t believe that just happened.’”

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In retrospect, Stecker is grateful for those elementary school boys. Hockey has never been a stressor for her. The girl whose elementary-school teacher called her “Sunshine” found an outlet to fuel her competitive nature and cheerful personality.

“I’ve always just had fun with it,” Stecker said. “I just remember always saying, ‘Oh my God, I want to play Division I hockey.’ In middle school, that’s when I realized that the dream is actually attainable. Like I can actually do it. That’s when it started getting a little bit more exciting.”

Hockey swiftly became a full-time commitment, meaning she was making decisions based on the sport.

After realizing Randolph High School didn’t have a girls’ hockey program (it has since formed one), Stecker chose to enroll at Morristown-Beard starting in middle school. It helped that the private school catered to her preference of smaller class sizes and a more hands-on education.

When her travel team, the New Jersey Colonials, didn’t have a Tier 1 U19 team, she pivoted from an eight-minute drive playing at Mennen Sports Arena in Morris Township to a 2½-hour trek to West Chester for the Jr. Flyers.

Stecker’s lone year with the Jr. Flyers overlapped with Penn State assistant coach Makenna Newkirk’s time coaching for North American Hockey Academy out of Boston.

“I coached against her for one year, and even then,” Newkirk said, “I kind of got a sense of how versatile and what a great player and competitor she is. … She was relentless. [She was] all over the puck, has great hands and great vision.”

The 5-foot-9 forward was named New Jersey Girls Ice Hockey Player of the Year in 2019-20, led the Crimson to a 2020 girls’ state championship, and was a four-time New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association prep champion.

Penn State was the first school to pursue Stecker about fulfilling her dream of playing college hockey. She fell in love with the idea of playing in State College as her two older sisters, Jill and Alison, attended Big Ten schools (Wisconsin and Michigan), even though they didn’t play hockey.

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Stecker’s commitment came days after Newkirk’s hire from Brown in early August 2020. Newkirk sent her future player a text conveying how excited she was to finally be on the same team rather than competing from opposite sides of the ice.

Natural instincts have been Stecker’s calling card. With the Colonials, Jr. Flyers, and Nittany Lions, she has played just about every position. Stecker describes herself as a physical player with a strong feel for the game.

“I think I make the smart plays, and I’m aware,” Stecker said. “And I like having fun. I know that’s really cliché, but I do really like having fun with hockey.”

She has developed a more exhaustive understanding of the game since joining a loaded Penn State team that is 13-8-1 so far this season and currently ranked 12th.

Stecker never watched much film or dissected systems growing up. She also never played man-to-man defense before college. Where before she relied heavily on instincts and raw skill, learning the intricacies of the game has made her a more well-rounded contributor.

“I think [her ceiling] is incredibly high,” Newkirk said. “She’s that kid who’s going to soak it all in. She already has an incredible impact on our program, whether she knows it or not. … She always brings that positivity and that smile, and it goes throughout the team.”