The Future of Hockey: Nela Lopušanová
There have been many great female hockey players through the years, and as the women’s game continues to grow, some have become names among hockey fans. Right now, Sarah Nurse is undoubtedly the most known female hockey player, but let’s be honest: she’s still far from being a household name among hockey fans. The fact she’s a name among hockey fans at all shows that there has been progress, but there’s still a lot of work to do. Today, I am going to bring to your attention a player who may help speed up the process of bringing attention to the women’s side of hockey: Nela Lopušanová. Quite simply: she is looking to be the future of women’s hockey. So, today, I am beginning a new series: “The Future of Hockey”. Not exactly an original name, but I think it gets the point across. I’ll be focusing on young, exciting players who I think you should know about. Today, we’re starting with the 15-year-old Slovak phenom.
Also, before we start: we are in the middle of the off-season for this newsletter currently. From July 30-October 1, all articles will be exclusive to paid subscribers.
Let us start at the beginning for Nela, the literal beginning for her. She was born on February 26, 2008, in Slovakia, to Jozef Lopušan and Slávka Lopušanová. Jozef played soccer at lower levels, and his love for sports was caught by his two children. Nela has an older brother, Šimon Lopušan, who also grew to love hockey and currently plays for Vlci Zilina in Slovakia2. At age two, Nela began ice skating on an outdoor pond, and at either age four or five (Nela doesn’t remember which), she began to play competitive hockey. Her older brother was also playing hockey and helped teach her the game, and still teaches her everything he knows to this day. Jozef, her father, while having played soccer, became involved in hockey, trying to learn everything he could to better help his children. According to Nela, Jozef knows more about hockey than most coaches, and that has helped her in her journey as a player.
Speaking of her father, Jozef had this to say about how Nela got into hockey:
“She didn’t even notice that her brother was playing hockey. We gave her a hockey stick, she immediately played with it. She didn’t deal with other toys at all. We didn’t even buy her dolls. She wouldn’t enjoy it. She preferred hockey sticks, balls, skates, protectors, mini goals. Then bigger goals or sports jerseys. Naturally, she was good at not only skating, but also kicking the ball. She had such a boyish attitude. Gradually, as she grew older, she looked up to her brother, who was six years older.”
So, hockey was an early obsession, and it’s still her main obsession thirteen years later. As she said to the newspaper Žilinský večerník when asked if she has hobbies outside hockey: “Not really. I like to watch Netflix or listen to music, but otherwise I only deal with hockey. I'm crazy about it.” (NOTE: That statement is a rough translation in Google Translate. Don’t expect it to be exact.) The obsession with hockey doesn’t end with ice hockey, as she is also a ball hockey player. She also plays for the Slovak national team at the Ball Hockey World Championship held biannually by the International Street and Ball Hockey Federation.
There isn’t much that I could find about her life between her toddler years and the past few years, but there is quite a bit that has happened in the past year or two for her. And frankly, it’s because of what she’s done recently that I’m even writing this article.
In 2021-22, Nela played both boys and women’s hockey, playing for MHK Dolny Kubin U16 (boys) and MsHKM Zilina (women’s). She played 3 games for U16 and had three points, and played 6 games for Zilina and had 40 points. Yes, you read that right. This past season (2022-23), she returned to both teams and played 19 games for U16 and had 56 points, and in 8 games for Zilina had 49 points. None of these stats are made up, I promise you. Then, at the IIHF World U18 Championship, she played for Team Slovakia, played 5 games and had 12 points. It’s her performance at the World Championship that got her international attention, where she scored 9 goals, including a Michigan goal and a between the leg’s goal. The Michigan goal she scored makes her the first female hockey player to pull it off in IIHF World Championship history. TSN even compiled a video of all nine goals she scored in the competition, if you want to see for yourself:
The other major headline that came from this past season about her was her 15th birthday, and it wasn’t because she turned 15. No, instead it was that just casually amassed 19 points in one game. No biggie. Once again, I must stress: this is not a joke, this actually happened. She scored 10 goals and had 9 assists against HC Košice on February 26. The video isn’t great, but there is a highlight reel of her doing so, if you want to see for yourself:
And then we come to today. She is moving to America for this upcoming season, to attend Bishop Kearney in Rochester, New York. She will play for the Bishop Kearney Selects 19U AAA team this year. Her journey is still just beginning, and it is going to be fun following her career as it continues. You better believe that I will be keeping an eye on her this upcoming season and will write articles about her when it’s warranted.
Anyway, thanks for reading this, everyone. I doubt any of these articles are going to be too long, as it's hard to find a lot to write about teenage hockey players, namely because there just isn't a lot about them out there usually. But, hopefully you now have an idea of whom Nela is and why she is a special talent. If you already knew who she is, maybe you learned something new, maybe you didn't. Maybe it was just a good refresher on why you're excited about her. To finish off, this series is just to introduce to people young players whom you might not have heard of yet who have promising futures. I would like to write another one of these this summer about Michael Misa, the presumptive first-pick overall in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft. Anyway, once again everyone, thank you for reading this, I'd love to hear your feedback on this, and have a great day.
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