As the championship youth hockey team accepted its first-place medals, Elizabeth Lazar skated over to each member of the team and congratulated them with hand shake. Her own team had just lost the hard-fought title contest, and Lazar made the gesture unprompted. She was never told by her coaches. None of her teammates did it before her and none followed.
“I’ve always been taught to congratulate the other team whether you win or lose,” Lazar explained.
Standing behind a glass window pane, her mother Laura beamed with pride as her daughter acknowledged the winning team on her own with a deed of humility and grace.
“I told her, ‘Win or lose, you are my champion because you are such a team player,’” Laura said. “That is what we are here for. You win as graciously as you lose. That is my daughter. She is a champion.”
Known affectionately as “Elie” to her family and friends, Elizabeth Grace Lazar, 10, began figure skating at the age of four. Two years later she switched to hockey because of her admiration of the team aspect of the sport.
She now trains year-round at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo, home to the Los Angeles Kings. A typical week for Lazar is practice on Mondays after school at an all-girls hockey clinic, games on Saturday and a team practice on Sundays.
“I like hockey because it is a team sport and everyone makes decisions together,” Lazar said. “You work together to accomplish something. I love it. When you make a mistake, you don’t get blamed. The whole team will take the responsibility. When everyone agrees to be a team player, everything works out.”
Now in her fifth season training at the Toyota Sports Center and playing in the Junior Kings hockey league as a member of the “Luc Robitaille Division,” Lazar is the only female on her current squad. The boys have accepted her as another important teammate. She plays forward and contributed a lot of assists last season.
“Some of the boys say ‘I can take her down’ and they come crashing into me and they will bounce right off of me,” Lazar said with a laugh. “Then I just skate away and smile.”
Ice hockey is one of the fastest-growing women’s sports in the United States and worldwide. According to USA Hockey, the number of girls or women registered with that organization has grown from about 10,000 in 1992 to more than 65,000 in 2011. Lazar has her sights set on a future in women’s hockey.
“I’ve worked really hard to be where I am. I love hockey,” Lazar stated. “I hope to be a part of the Lady Kings [a women’s professional team] when I graduate college.”
Lazar spent part of this past summer at the Can-Am Hockey Camp at The University of Guelph in Guelph, Ontario, Canada, approximately 45 minutes west of Toronto. More than 100 youth hockey enthusiasts attended the camp.
“It was great,” Lazar said. “I learned how to grow up on my own.”
She also takes lessons once a week for the piano and violin. Other hobbies for Lazar include singing, snow skiing, tennis, golf, dance and horseback riding. In addition, she maintains excellent grades at Webster Elementary.
When asked about the life lessons she has learned while playing hockey, Lazar sounded like a coach in the making.
“One for all and all for one,” Lazar said. “Don’t give up, keep trying and be a team player. Win with a smile, lose with a smile.”
Spoken like a true champion.