Elena Orlando (born June 15, 1992) is an American

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

defenseman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the la ...

. She most recently played in the

Premier Hockey Federation The Premier Hockey Federation (PHF), formerly the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL), is a women's professional ice hockey league located in the United States and Canada. The league was established in 2015 with four league-owned teams and ha ...

(PHF) with the

Buffalo Beauts The Buffalo Beauts are a professional ice hockey team based in Amherst, New York, United States. The team was established in 2015 as one of the four founding franchises of the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF), originally named the National Women' ...

during the 2021–22 season. Having played in the PHF since its inaugural 2015–16 season, she was one of five players to have recorded more than 100 regular season games played at the conclusion of the 2021–22 season.

Playing career

Growing up in California, Orlando originally began playing roller hockey until an ice rink was built in her neighborhood, at which point she switched to ice hockey along with her brother. In high school, she attended

Shattuck-Saint Mary's Shattuck-St. Mary's (also known as Shattuck-St. Mary's School, Shattuck, or simply SSM) is a coeducational Episcopal-affiliated boarding school in Faribault, Minnesota, United States. Established in 1858 as an Episcopal mission school and se ...

, where she played as both a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

and a defender and won the national championship in 2009. She was invited to the

USA Hockey USA Hockey is the national ice hockey organization in the United States. It is recognized by the International Olympic Committee and the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee as the Sport governing body, governing body for organized ice ...

national development camp in 2008 and 2009. From 2010 to 2014, she attended

Quinnipiac University Quinnipiac University () is a private university in Hamden, Connecticut. The university grants undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees through its College of Arts and Sciences, School of Business, School of Engineering, School of C ...

and played with the

Quinnipiac Bobcats The Quinnipiac Bobcats are the 21 sports teams representing Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut in intercollegiate athletics. The Bobcats compete in the NCAA Division I and are members of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, joining on ...

, scoring 11 points in 85

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

games. She scored her first NCAA goal in a 2–1 defeat to the

Colgate Raiders The Colgate Raiders are the athletic teams that represent Colgate University. The teams include men and women's basketball, cross country, ice hockey, lacrosse, rowing, soccer, swimming & diving, track and field and tennis. Men's sports include g ...

on October 30, 2010. At Quinnipiac, she also played for the university's women's rugby programme. After graduating, she signed with

IF Sundsvall Hockey IF Sundsvall Hockey is a Swedish ice hockey club based in Sundsvall. The club currently competes in Hockeyettan, the third tier of ice hockey in Sweden. Sundsvall plays their home matches at Gärdehov, with a capacity of 2,500. History The club ...

in the

Swedish Women's Hockey League The Swedish Women's Hockey League ( sv, Svenska damhockeyligan), abbreviated SDHL, is the elite league for women's ice hockey in Sweden. It was established in 2007 as the by the Swedish Ice Hockey Association and was renamed prior to the 2016– ...

(then known as Riksserien). She would pick up 2 points in 5 games with Sundsvall, adding another 9 points in 14 relegation playoff games as the club managed to save its top-flight spot. After the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL; rebranded as PHF in 2021) was founded by

Dani Rylan Dani Rylan Kearney (born August 5, 1987) is an American entrepreneur and former ice hockey player. She is the founder and former commissioner of the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL), the first professional women's hockey league in the United ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

, she returned to North America to sign with the

New York Riveters The Metropolitan Riveters (originally the New York Riveters) are a professional women's ice hockey team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, with home games at the American Dream Meadowlands ice rink. They were one of the four charter franchi ...

on a $10,000 contract. She would only play one season with the Riveters, picking up one assist in seventeen games, before signing a $12,000 contract with the Connecticut Whale. Orlando went on to play with the Whale for five consecutive seasons, playing a total of 72 games with the team, and was the recipient of a NWHL Foundation Award in 2017. While serving as an

alternate captain In ice hockey, the captain is the player designated by a team as the only person authorized to speak with the game officials regarding rule interpretations when the captain is on the ice. At most levels of play each team must designate one captai ...

of the Whale during the

2019–20 NWHL season The 2019–20 NWHL season was the fifth season of the National Women's Hockey League. All five teams from the previous season returned: the Boston Pride, Buffalo Beauts, Connecticut Whale, Metropolitan Riveters, and the Minnesota Whitecaps. Th ...

, she picked up 3 assists in 24 regular season games, more than doubling her career total, and was named to Team Packer for the 2020 NWHL All-Star Game. She recorded an additional 2 points with the Whale in the four regular season games of the 2020–21 season, which was dramatically shortened due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. After half a decade with the Whale, Orlando signed with the

for the 2021–22 season. Continuing to live in Connecticut, she made the more than commute to Buffalo for practices and home games all season, managing to not miss a single game. In recognition of her perseverance and dedication to the sport, she received the Denna Laing Award (also called the PHF Perseverance Award) in 2022.

Personal life

Outside of hockey, Orlando works as a nurse.

Career statistics

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Orlando, Elena 1992 births Living people American expatriate ice hockey players in Sweden American women's ice hockey defensemen American women nurses Buffalo Beauts players Connecticut Whale (PHF) players Ice hockey players from California New York Riveters players Quinnipiac Bobcats women's ice hockey players Sportspeople from San Jose, California IF Sundsvall Hockey players