Sophie Ancona is all smiles on the ice. (Submitted photo)
Michigan's 2023-24 Miss Hockey award went to the person who always dreamed of being named the winner.
Sophie Ancona, who has been skating since the age of 5 when she first enrolled in the St. Clair Shores Learn to Skate program, was honored this season by the Michigan Girls High School Hockey League.
“My coach called me and told me I won,” Ancona said. “It had been an end goal for me for a while, and knowing I won was literally a dream come true. It’s always an incredible feeling to be loved.”
This award is given annually to the top female hockey player in Michigan. Recognizes the athlete who best exhibits the qualities of leadership, teamwork, and sportsmanship.
Ancona had more of an effect than that. This season, he had 48 goals and 25 assists in just 25 games at Lidgett College at Grosse Pointe Woods. Prior to that, he played in older age groups on his SCS boys team, which he first joined at the age of five. She played one year of AAA for Little Caesars and won a state championship. She eventually left to play in Tier 2 with the Saints, which also gave her time to play soccer.
He and Liggett won back-to-back state titles and won MVP honors in one of them.
Before she posted Gretzky-esque numbers, it was unclear whether she would even play this season. Ancona tore her anterior cruciate ligament just two games into her junior year's spring season while playing soccer, but she's had it once before, and while playing basketball in eighth grade, she tore her ACL. I had torn my anterior cruciate ligament.
But injuries didn't stop her. Ancona finished her two-year hockey career as a captain with an All-State First Team selection and honorable mention, league scoring title and two-time All-Catholic selection.
Of course, she won the most prestigious award ever by winning Miss Hockey.
“No matter what I went through to get here, my love for the game remained the same, and that was the driving force behind my success this season,” Ancona said. “I couldn't have done it without my teammates who pushed me both on and off the ice, and my coaches over the past few years who helped me grow as a player and a person. Sho.
“It’s been great to have such a great community supporting me through the ups and downs. And of course, without the injury and the hard work and determination through it all, I wouldn’t be at the level I am now. I always put in that extra effort by shooting pucks and working out before and after practice.”
Ms. Ancona also worked with Dr. Hintz, a surgeon she worked with at Associated Orthopedics in Detroit, Josh Hales, a physical therapist at David Guilbeault Physical Therapy, and trainer Nick, who participated in the return-to-sports program through Henry. He also expressed his gratitude to Parson. Ford.
“They all gave me the opportunity to continue playing sports and perform at a high level both physically and mentally,” she said.
Despite being active in multiple sports (he is a two-time All-State Honorable Mention honoree in soccer), Ancona hopes his future lies on the ice rather than the pitch. She is most interested in going to the East Coast to play NCAA Division III hockey.
“Winning Miss Hockey is a great end to my high school career and a gateway to continue playing at the next level.”
