Isabella Tomasi '27 Recruiting Profile

My name is Isabella Tomasi, or Bella for short, and I am a 15 year old ice hockey goaltender from Stevensville, Michigan. This season I am the starting goalie for the Garden Wolves in the Adray West Prep League. I am excited for the upcoming season of high school hockey, and hope to continue playing while in college and beyond.

I have been playing pretty much year-round since I was six years old. My first two winter seasons were at a semi-enclosed rink (a roof and one wall), which was the only ice rink in town. When it melted I played at the University of Notre Dame’s Compton Family Ice Arena. Those early winters were so cold! And it was challenging to learn how to handle the puck and improve edgework when snow would pile up on the ice during practice and games. In my third year of hockey the Garden Ice Arena opened, our town’s first ever indoor ice facility. The Garden has been my home rink ever since.

Like most kids, I started my hockey journey skating out with occasional turns in the net. I loved every opportunity to play goalie, and by my second year of 10U I knew it was the only position I wanted to play. That year we had a lot of kids who also wanted a turn as goalie, so chances to play in games only came once every month or so. To make up for it, my dad and I would wake up at 5:00 AM to drive to the rink every Wednesday morning so that I could take shots from the Coffee Club adults. I would play, go to the women’s locker room to get cleaned up, and then my dad would drive me straight to school to start the day as a fifth grader. In my first year as a 12U I was a full-time goalie, and I haven’t skated out as a player ever since.

I am entering my 10th season of playing on co-ed teams. In addition, four of my female teammates and I helped create our local program’s girls team: the She-Wolves. We became the nucleus for the program, we selected the name (the co-ed teams are the Wolves) and convinced the program leaders to go with it, and we designed the jerseys. We played on our regular co-ed teams, and then a few times a month we would come together as an all-girls squad to play our ladies from around the state. In our first ever game we traveled to Ann Arbor to play on Olympic-sized ice. With only six skaters and one goalie (me), the She-Wolves won their inaugural game 5-0 over the Cougars. Since then the program has continued to grow, with the older She-Wolves now playing as a full-time girls team and the younger She-Wolves continuing to follow the dual-roster model. Even though I have aged out of the She-Wolves offerings as a player, I remain involved as one of the coaches of the younger (combined 10U+8U) She-Wolves.

In addition to the regular co-ed and all-girls youth teams I have played on over the years, I have had the opportunity to play on teams for charity tournaments, special events, and even the local adult league. Some of my favorites include playing in net for the Garden Gnomes at the Pucks for Autism adult charity tournament in 2022, playing for the Blue Wolves at the Junior Mitten Games for Mental Health Awareness youth charity tournament in 2023, and playing for the Golden Cheetahs in the high school division of the March Break-Away Girls Hockey Jamboree in 2024. But sets me apart from the other goalies in the area is my time in the local adult league. When I was 11 I started playing with the Beginner Adult Development (BAD) Hockey program in order to gain more experience. One night, as I was coming off the ice from BAD, I was told that one of the 40+ Division team’s goalies was late and I would have to fill in. I was terrified, but did my best. The following season, a few days after my 12th birthday, I was selected in the adult league draft to play on one of the 40+ Division teams. Since then I’ve been drafted six times onto adult league rosters and have frequently played for other teams as a sub. In the Summer 2024 season, in addition to the games with my regular adult league team, I was tied with a goalie from the University of Arizona for the most games played as a sub goalie. 

Away from the ice, I have been a percussionist for the past 5 years. Currently I perform in Lakeshore High School’s marching, concert, and jazz bands. With the marching band, I play bass drum. In my freshman year we won the MCBA Flight IV state championship, and we hope to repeat this year. For the concert and jazz bands I have played a variety of instruments, including bass drum, snare drum, timpani, crash and suspended cymbals, chimes, xylophone, glockenspiel, triangle, tambourine, gong, slapstick, claves, congas, bongos, and have even had a cowbell solo.

I also volunteer at The Heritage Museum and Cultural Center in St. Joseph, Michigan. As a volunteer I have had a variety of roles, ranging from welcoming guests, answering the phones, and activating/deactivating the exhibits. I’ve also helped outside of public museum hours by weeding the gardens, cleaning the exhibit halls, and setting up for big events. The museum also manages lighthouse operations for the historic St. Joseph North Pier Inner & Outer Lights, which includes guided tours. I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to work inside the Inner Light, managing the front desk as well as leading guests on climbs to the very top of the lighthouse. 

My goal is to continue playing hockey at a competitive level in college while pursuing degrees in creative writing and business. Ultimately I would like to become an author.