Lakeside grad starts women’s hockey team at Georgia Southern

Lena Whitwell is following in her dad’s ice skates.

“My dad played hockey. When I was growing up, I wanted to be just like him,” said the Georgia Southern University sophomore who recently started the college’s women’s hockey team.

Her dad is John Whitwell who played for the Augusta Lynx. Lena Whitwell was on the ice not long after learning how to walk, donning her first pair of ice skates when she was about two. By the time she was three, she was playing the sport.

 She played until the ice rink closed in Augusta when she was in the fourth grade.

The 2023 Lakeside High School graduate started driving to Columbia when she was 16 so that she could be part of an ice hockey team there. At school, she was a member of the band.

“Me and my friends would pack up and drive there. We’d get back at 1 in the morning and have to be up for school at 6 a.m.,” she said.

In Columbia, she played hockey on a men’s team.

After graduation, her hockey dreams took another pause until she and her dad were listening to a hockey podcast and heard about the new women’s programs at the University of Georgia and Auburn University.

“My dad said ‘You should do that,’” she said, and she went from there.

The team played its first game on Sept. 8. They’ve played against the University of Georgia and the University of Alabama.

Several of its members are from Columbia County and played lacrosse at Greenbrier and Evans High Schools. While most of the team is inexperienced, at least two other members have played.

“Our goalie is really good. She’s from Winthrop, Massachusetts. She came to Georgia Southern last year and left Georgia Southern. When she realized we had a hockey team, she came back. Another player is from south of Boston,” she said.

But the lack of experience is fine, she said, because the goal is to introduce women to the sport.

The closest ice rinks are more than two hours away in Jacksonville, Florida, and Charleston, South Carolina. An ice rink is supposed to open in Savannah in October, she said.  

Women’s ice hockey is gaining in popularity. A new professional league launched in January 2024.

Whitwell said she’s just excited to be able to play the game with other women.

“It is so nice. They’re all my size. When playing with men, I was always the smallest. I got knocked around like a rag doll. And they are so nice. It’s fantastic. It’s a huge change of pace,” she said.

The team is gearing up for a big set of games Nov. 1-3.

“We’re calling it the Virginia Tour. We’re going to play Liberty’s D-2 team, the University of Virginia’s D-1 team and Virginia Tech’s D-1 team. It’s a really big trip,” she said.

Charmain Z. Brackett, the publisher of Augusta Good News and Inspiring: Women of Augusta, has covered Augusta’s news for more than 35 years and is a Georgia Press Association award winner. Reach her at charmain@augustagoodnews.com. Sign up for the newsletter here.