Nashville Native Russell Returns Home as Stonehill College Captain for Smashville Women's Collegiate Showcase

Nicole Russell thought her daughter, Sydney, was going to be a figure skater - until the youngest member of the family started wearing her brother’s old jersey and hockey gloves.

“And so I thought, ‘OK, we're not going figure skating,” Nicole laughed over the phone earlier this week. “We’re going to go hockey.”

That decision turned out to be the correct choice, so much so that the Russells are about to have a full circle moment this holiday weekend.

Sydney, who became the first female hockey player born and raised in Nashville to commit to play NCAA Division I hockey, will return home as the captain of the Stonehill University Skyhawks to skate in the annual SMASHVILLE Women’s Collegiate Hockey Showcase at Ford Ice Center Bellevue.

Stonehill, along with Mercyhurst University and the top-ranked University of Wisconsin women’s teams will travel to the Music City for the fifth-annual event, which is set to begin the day after Thanksgiving at the same rink where Russell has practiced before.

Now, the senior defender will lead her squad against the Lakers and Badgers in front of family and friends who have never had the chance to see her play collegiately - until now.

“I'm really excited,” Sydney said via Zoom from the Stonehill campus earlier in the week. "I think it'll be a special weekend to come back to where I started playing. I guess I never thought I would be able, or be given this opportunity, to do this. I just want to make the most of it, and I think especially being in front of family and friends that usually wouldn't travel all the way to New England and watch me play, I think that'll be very special to be able to have that.”

Of course, Sydney’s parents, Nicole and Mark, are overjoyed at the chance to not only be home for Thanksgiving for the first time in a number of years, but to be able to hop in the car and see their daughter play in her hometown again?

“To be at home for Thanksgiving and get to see one of our kids play hockey - that’s pretty special,” Mark said. “And then the amount of family and friends that know she's playing in town, which may be some added pressure on Syd - I hope not - but just through the roof excitement of her getting to play in Nashville.”

The Russells’ story is not unlike many other hockey families in Nashville - the early morning practices, the games and tournaments in cities across the country and the chance to support their children - Sydney and brother, Trevor - in doing what they loved.

In the early years, Sydney played on boys teams, but when she turned 12 and body checking was about to be introduced, her mother gave her an option - find a girls team to join or pick a different sport.

“She wasn’t having that,” Nicole said.

Having played at the former A-Game facility in Franklin, the Russells got connected with Kahlie Singletary, a coach Mark and Nicole credit with helping Sydney first simply find somewhere to play - and then developing her into a collegiate athlete.

Sydney began to flourish as a member of the Nashville Jr. Predators girls program, and coaches Allie LaCombe, and then Delaney Collins, also played massive roles in Sydney’s development.

“They had a lot of influence,” Sydney said of her former coaches. “I think just being super big supporters and kind of having them as [notable] females in the hockey world [was very important]. Nashville wasn’t really big into girls hockey when I was starting, and I think having them to look up to and from their experiences of what they've gone through, I think, definitely motivated me and helped me grow as a player to where I am now.”

Sydney’s parents also believe her brother, Trevor, who skated four seasons with the Michigan Tech Huskies, served as a point of motivation when she was 17. When Trevor signed his scholarship papers, Mark says Sydney’s game went to an even greater level.

From there, Sydney had interest from Division III schools, but Division I was the goal. At a camp in St. Louis, Stonehill found their future captain. From there, the recruiting continued, and two days after Christmas in 2021, the Nashville Jr. Preds announced Russell as the first Women’s D-I commit from Nashville.

“I remember just being tickled to death, just so proud of her,” Nicole said of the moment. “She did it. That was her goal. She wanted to play D-I and she achieved it, so we were just so proud.”

“Really, really ecstatic,” Mark said of the commitment. “She spent that time focusing, made a commitment to a sport, had a goal, and even past that, our first weekend [at Stonehill], we got to meet several girls on the team. It was amazing to watch these girls from Canada, the western United States, up north, and she was the only southern girl on the team, how they just gravitated to her. I looked at Nicole, and I said, ‘I'm pretty sure she’s going to end up being a captain on this team.’ Here she sits in her junior and senior year - last year, she was co-captain, and now her senior year, she's captain of a Division I hockey team.”

Sydney remembers thinking the commitment was “cool” at the time, but then just continuing on with her day. That mindset wouldn't surprise her parents, as they say she’s certainly not the type to boast about her accomplishments but rather let her play on the ice do the talking.

She does just that, and through 14 outings this season with the Skyhawks, the captain is tied for second on the team with 10 points, and she leads her club with 23 blocked shots on the backend.

And wearing the ‘C’ is certainly a source of pride, too.

“To kind of have my teammates and peers kind of look at me that way, I think just going to the rink every day and working hard and trying to lead by example is kind of how I've always grown up,” Sydney said “I didn't really switch anything when I was given the ‘C’ here.”

Those leadership attributes seemingly come natural to Sydney, and so does her work ethic that’s led to this point. That’s the advice she would also offer to young girls in Nashville who were once in her skates - just because Tennessee is on a birth certificate doesn’t mean a life in women’s hockey isn’t attainable.

Far from it, actually.

“I think just hard work and consistency would definitely be what I would say,” Sydney offered as advice. “I think to just have fun. I think that's a goal that you want to strive for - just working hard every day and trying to get better at the little skills or little goals that you set for yourself. Because at the end of the day, all of that will work itself together.”

That attitude certainly worked for Sydney, and now, the athlete who “definitely didn’t want to wear a dress or a leotard on the ice” will be back to continue living her dream in the place where it all began.

“She's very humble and she's very quiet, but she speaks loudly when she gets on the ice,” Nicole said of her daughter. “I think she's proud to be playing in Nashville after growing up here and playing here. I think she's going to be very proud to have her team here and playing in front of a Nashville crowd.”

The SMASHVILLE Women’s Collegiate Hockey Showcase takes place Nov. 28-30 at Ford Ice Center Bellevue. Click here for more information and to purchase tickets.