Lindsay Eastwood (born January 14, 1997) is a retired Canadian

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 h ...

defender, having played for the

Toronto Six The Toronto Six is a professional women's ice hockey team based in Toronto playing out of Canlan Ice Sports – York. They are one of two Canadian teams in the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) (formerly known as the National Women's Hockey League ...

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 h ...

(PHF) from 2020 to 2023. The

Syracuse Orange The Syracuse Orange are the athletic teams that represent Syracuse University. The school is a member of NCAA Division I and the Atlantic Coast Conference. Until 2013, Syracuse was a member of the Big East Conference. The school's mascot is Ott ...

all-time leader in goals scored among defenders, she scored the first goal in Six history. She was a member of the Six roster that won the 2023 Isobel Cup championship, representing the last championship team of the PHF.

Playing career

Born and raised in

Kanata, Ontario Kanata (, ) is a suburb of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is located about west of the city's downtown core. As of 2021, Kanata had an urban population of 137,118. Before it was amalgamated into Ottawa in 2001, it was one of the fastest-growing ...

, Eastwood began playing hockey at the age of six. She played junior hockey for the Nepean Wildcats 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 ...

(PWHL), serving as team captain and finishing as one of the top five all-time league scorers among

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

. She would go on to play NCAA Division I women's ice hockey for the

College Hockey America College Hockey America (CHA) is a college ice hockey conference in the United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I as a hockey-only conference. The conference is made up of five women’s teams, with two in Pennsylvania; two in New ...

, putting up 75 points in 135 games. She was forced to sit out her first year at the university after being diagnosed with

antiphospholipid syndrome Antiphospholipid syndrome, or antiphospholipid antibody syndrome (APS or APLS), is an autoimmune, hypercoagulable state caused by antiphospholipid antibodies. APS provokes blood clots (thrombosis) in both arteries and veins as well as pregnancy-r ...

, an autoimmune disorder. In that season, she began training as a

rower Rowing, sometimes called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars are attached to the boat using oarlocks, while paddles are not connected to the boat. Rowing is ...

, but was able to return to hockey for the 2016–17 season. In 2018, she was named Syracuse captain, and led the team to victory at the 2019 CHA Women's Ice Hockey Tournament, the programme's first ever conference championship win. In her final university season, she won the CHA Best Defenseman Award and the Doris R. Soladay Award, setting a programme record for most career goals by a defenceman.

Professional

In June 2020, she signed her first professional contract with the Toronto Six, the first Canadian expansion team in the NWHL. She scored her first professional goal against

Amanda Leveille Amanda Leveille (born June 10, 1994) is a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender for the Minnesota Whitecaps of the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF). She currently holds the PHF record for all-time wins, and has won the Isobel Cup twice. Ca ...

in the second game of the 2020–21 NWHL season, the first goal in the Six franchise history. The assists on Eastwood's historic goal were credited to Emma Woods and Shiann Darkangelo. Following three seasons with the Six, during which she was named a league all-star in 2022 and won the

Isobel Cup The Lady Isobel Gathorne-Hardy Cup, often shortened to Isobel Cup, is the championship trophy awarded annually to the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) playoff winner. It is named after Lady Isobel Gathorne-Hardy, one of the first known women to p ...

in 2023, Eastwood announced her retirement from professional hockey and joined the

Kitchener Rangers The Kitchener Rangers are a major junior ice hockey team based in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Midwest Division of the Western Conference of the Ontario Hockey League. The Rangers have won the J. Ross Robertson Cup as OHL ...

as their Manager of Communications and Team Services.

International career

Eastwood played for Team Canada at the 2015 IIHF World Women's U18 Championship, joining a team that included future NWHLers

Carly Jackson Carly Jackson (born June 23, 1997) is a Canadian ice hockey goaltender, currently playing in the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) with PWHL Toronto. Playing career In her youth, Jackson played for the Cumberland Blues of the Nova ...

, Alyson Matteau, and future Toronto Six teammate Sarah-Ève Coutu-Godbout, in addition to future Canadian women's national team players

Sarah Potomak Sarah Potomak (born December 19, 1997) is a Canadian ice hockey player who competed with the Under-18 Canadian national women's hockey team. She made her debut with the Canada women's national ice hockey team at the 2015 4 Nations Cup, held in Nov ...

and

Micah Hart Micah Arielle Zandee-Hart (born January 13, 1997) is a Canadian women's ice hockey player. On November 23, 2016, she was named to the Canada women's national ice hockey team roster that competed against the United States in a pair of contests on ...

, and many other standout players. The team won silver after falling in the gold medal game to

Team USA The United States national team or Team USA may refer to any of a number of sports team representing the United States in international competitions. Olympic teams Additionally, these teams may compete in other international competitions such as ...

overtime Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways: *by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society) ...

Style of play

Mostly described as a more offensive defender, Eastwood has been noted for her size, reach, and the strength of her shot. She has stated that "my speed is one of my biggest insecurities as a player."

Personal life

Eastwood holds two degrees from Syracuse University, a bachelor's in communication and rhetorical studies from the College of Visual and Performing Arts and a master's degree in television, radio and film from the

S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications The S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, commonly known as Newhouse School, is the communications and journalism school of Syracuse University in Syracuse, NY. It has programs in print and broadcast journalism; music business; graphic ...

. She covered the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs as a correspondent for the ''

Tampa Bay Times The ''Tampa Bay Times'', previously named the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It has won fourteen Pulitzer Prizes since 1964, and in 2009, won two in a single ...

'' and will be covering her experiences inside the 2020–21 NWHL COVID-19 bubble season for Sportsnet. Her uncle,

Mike Eastwood Michael Barry Eastwood (born July 1, 1967) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. Eastwood played 13 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Winnipeg Jets, Phoenix Coyotes, New York Rangers, St. Louis Blue ...

, played over 700 game in the men's

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Career Statistics

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Eastwood, Lindsay 1997 births Living people Canadian sports journalists Canadian women's ice hockey defencemen Ice hockey people from Ottawa Isobel Cup champions Journalists from Ontario S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications alumni Syracuse Orange women's ice hockey players Tampa Bay Times Toronto Six players