Ella Shelton (born January 19, 1998) is a Canadian professional

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 ...

player and

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 ...

for

PWHL New York New York is a professional ice hockey team based in the New York metropolitan area. They are one of the six charter franchises of the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL). History The PWHL revealed that one of its first six franchises wou ...

of the

Professional Women's Hockey League The Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL; , ''LPHF'') is a Professional sports, professional Ice hockey#Women's ice hockey, women's ice hockey league in North America, wholly owned and operated by the Mark Walter, Mark Walter Group. It con ...

(PWHL), and member of Canada women's national ice hockey team. She was drafted fourth overall in the

2023 PWHL Draft The 2023 PWHL Draft was the first draft in Professional Women's Hockey League history, and took place on September 18, 2023, at the Canadian Broadcasting Centre in Toronto, Ontario. Minnesota Golden Gophers forward Taylor Heise was the first pl ...

by New York.

Playing career

Shelton played junior hockey in the

Provincial Women's Hockey League The Provincial Women's Hockey League (or PWHL) is a Junior women's ice hockey league in Ontario, Canada that was founded in 2004. It is considered to be the highest level of junior women's amateur ice hockey in Ontario, and is sanctioned by Hocke ...

for the London Jr. Devilettes. She was a member of the first Devilettes team that had their own arena. In 2016, Shelton skated for Team Ontario's U18 provincial squad.

College

In her freshman season playing

college ice hockey College ice hockey is played principally in the United States and Canada, though leagues exist outside North America. In the United States, competitive "college hockey" refers to ice hockey played between colleges and universities within the g ...

for

Clarkson University Clarkson University is a private research university with its main campus in Potsdam, New York, and additional graduate program and research facilities in the New York Capital Region and Beacon, New York. It was founded in 1896 and has an enr ...

, the 2016–17 season, Shelton recorded six goals and twenty-five points, including assists in both the semifinals and finals of the national tournament, which the Golden Knights won. As a senior in the 2019–20 season, Shelton was named

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of the Golden Knights, and was named a Second Team All-American and a finalist for the ECAC's Best Defenseman award. Her thirty-three points on the strength of nine goals and twenty-four assists ranked fifth nationally among defencemen.

Professional

Upon graduating from college, Shelton joined the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association (PWHPA), where she played two seasons. She was affiliated with the Toronto hub during the 2020–21 season and played with Team Scotiabank during the 2022–23 season. On September 18, 2023, Shelton was selected in the first round, fourth overall by

in the 2023 Draft of the

(PWHL). On October 31, 2023, she signed a three-year contract with the team. On December 21, 2023, Shelton and teammate

Alex Carpenter Alexandra "Alex" Carpenter (born April 13, 1994) is an American ice hockey player and member of the United States women's national team. She most recently played in the 2020–21 season of the Zhenskaya Hockey League (ZhHL) with the KRS Vanke R ...

were named the first alternate captains in team history. On January 1, 2024, against

PWHL Toronto Toronto is a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are one of the six charter franchises of the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL). History On August 29, 2023, it was announced that Toronto would be home t ...

, Shelton scored the first goal in PWHL history. She would finish the season with seven goals, with her 21 points good for fifth overall and first among defenders. She and New York placed last in the regular season.

International play

Shelton was named to the Canadian contingent that participated at the Nations Cup in Fussen, Germany in January 2018, which saw her call fellow Clarkson Golden Knight

Loren Gabel Loren Gabel (born July 24, 1997) is a Canadian women's ice hockey player, formerly of the Clarkson Golden Knights. She made her debut for the Canada women's national ice hockey team at the 2018 4 Nations Cup. She won the Patty Kazmaier Award in 2 ...

a teammate. Losing both games in the preliminary round to send them to the fifth-place match, the Canadians defeated Germany by a 5–1 mark. Shelton would assist on a second period goal by Brooke Stacey, her only point of the tournament. Shelton recorded her first international goal at the senior level at the 2021 World Championship, in a 5–1 win over the

Russian Olympic Committee The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC; russian: Олимпийский комитет России (ОКР), Olimpiyskiy komitet Rossii (OKR); Full name: All-Russian united social union "Olympic Committee of Russia", russian: Общероссий� ...

. The Canadians would go on to earn the gold medal with a 3–2 overtime finals victory against the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. She was one of 28 players invited to

Hockey Canada Hockey Canada (which merged with the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association in 1994) is the national governing body of ice hockey and ice sledge hockey in Canada. It is a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation and controls the majority ...

's Centralization Camp, which represents the selection process for the Canadian women's team that shall compete in Ice hockey at the 2022 Winter Olympics. On January 11, 2022, Shelton was named to Canada's 2022 Olympic team. Shelton was a member of Team Canada at the 2024 World Championship, where the Canadians won their 100th World Championship game, a 4–1 victory over

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

in which Shelton recorded a goal and two assists. The Canadians would go on to win the gold medal.

Personal life

Shelton majored in

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

. In high school, she played soccer and basketball in addition to hockey.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Awards and honours

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shelton, Ella 1998 births Living people Canadian women's ice hockey players Ice hockey players at the 2022 Winter Olympics Olympic ice hockey players for Canada Medalists at the 2022 Winter Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Canada Olympic medalists in ice hockey PWHL New York players Ice hockey people from Ontario People from Ingersoll, Ontario London Jr. Devilettes players