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On Nov. 3, 2024, SU forward Stella Costabile made the two-hour drive from Syracuse to Rochester. While SU was set to face The Rochester Institute of Technology days later, her trip had nothing to do with the upcoming matchup.

When she arrived at the Tim Hortons Iceplex, Costabile tracked down her former coach and friend Chris Baer. Baer was her head coach with the Philadelphia Jr. Flyers, a nationally recognized travel program based in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

While Baer’s 16U Flyers squad battled the Bishop Kearney Selects that morning, the two reflected on their time with the program and Costabile’s experiences just 11 games into her college career.

“It was kind of nostalgic (watching that game) because you feel like you were just doing travel hockey, and now you’re on the flip side and the girls look up to you,” Costabile said.

Costabile’s eight seasons with the Philly Jr. Flyers prepared her to earn her place on a Division I roster with the Orange. After playing alongside up-and-coming D-I commits daily with the Flyers, she now faces off against former teammates regularly with Syracuse, where she’s accumulated four goals and six assists in her freshman campaign.

Once she learned the basics of skating at 9 years old, Costabile first suited up for a boys 12U team: the Valley Forge Minutemen. Costabile was often the only girl on the roster. Because of central Pennsylvania’s lack of better options, she was part of the team for three seasons before moving on.

“If we wanted to develop, (Stella and I) really had no choice but to play with boys (at the start),” former Flyers defender Rose Dwyer said. “We were both the only girls on the team, so we could kinda relate. It was good for both of us in the end for hockey.”

Heading into her final season of 14U hockey, Costabile knew she needed a change. By continuing to play on a boys team, she likely wouldn’t garner any attention from scouts and coaches.

Leaving the Minutemen behind, Costabile committed solely to the Jr. Flyers and signed up for their 14U girls team tryouts that year. She’d occasionally joined the team for tournaments while with Valley Forge for the past three seasons, so the Flyers’ coaching staff was already familiar with her.

With increased physical strength she gained from competing against boys, Costabile easily cracked Baer’s 14U Tier I lineup in the 2019-2020 season.

There, Costabile often displayed her stick skills as an aggressive, offensive defender. Baer took note of this and recommended Costabile move to forward, where she plays today at SU.

Weeks before her freshman year of high school in 2020, Costabile’s family moved from Pennsylvania to the Jersey Shore. Costabile now had to drive almost two hours each way to the Flyers’ home rink, the Ice Line.

Over the next four seasons at the Flyers, Costabile continued to build on her skillset as a scrappy, fearless offensive threat and was given ample opportunities to do so. All Flyers teams played 70-to-75 games each season from August to early April, boosting Costabile’s skills.

“The physicality and pace pick up each level you go up,” Baer said. “If (players) are just showing up for practice and not doing anything else as far as working out or working on their skills, they’re gonna fall behind.”

With the lack of competition in West Chester, the group usually traveled to tournaments in Michigan, Minnesota, Illinois and Canada where college coaches scouted them.

Amid their intense schedule, Flyers players also hit the ice three times a week for practice, twice a week for team lifts and met for half-hour video sessions on Wednesdays. Method Hockey, a state of the art hockey-oriented gym, was also accessible to use for one-on-one workouts with coaches and power skating via a synthetic ice treadmill.

Stella Costabile has accumulated four goals and six assists in her freshman campaign at Syracuse. Jacob Halsema | Staff Photographer

“Wednesdays were our toughest nights because we didn’t get on the ice until 9 p.m., so we’d be practicing until 10:15 p.m.,” former Flyers defender Ella Sennick said. “Usually, Thursdays we’d either have to go to school or we’d be traveling (to another game).”

The pinnacle of Costabile’s Jr. Flyers experience was the 2022-23 season when she totaled 12 goals and 14 assists to help bring her 19U team one win shy of its first USA Hockey national championship. Despite her primary assist on the Flyers’ only goal, the St. Mary’s Shattuck Sabres claimed the title, 4-1.

SU forward Jackson Kinsler — a St. Mary’s Shattuck forward at the time — still jokingly holds her gold medal over Costabile’s head.

Costabile didn’t stray far from her Flyers teammates with the Orange. Just four games into her career, she was tasked with trying to beat her former 19U goalie Maelee Ambrass when Syracuse battled the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on Oct. 11, 2024.

Even while wearing different jerseys, the friendship still held.

“I made a glove save and (Stella) came up to me after,” Ambrass said. “One of my teammates came over to hit her so I had to step in and say, ‘No, I know her!’ It gave me a little laugh in the middle of the game.”

Now preparing for her first college postseason, another familiar face awaits her when the Orange host Robert Morris in the Atlantic Hockey America quarterfinals. Thalia D’Elia, who shared the ice with Costabile at the 16U and 19U levels, will look to upset her old friend Saturday in round one.

With plenty of college hockey ahead of her, it’s certain Costabile will continue to cross paths with more friends. But the bonds she formed as a Flyer will always remain, no matter whose logo she dons.

“It was like my home,” Costabile said. “The Jr. Flyer alumni is awesome because I get to reunite with all of (my teammates), even in the AHA. I’ve definitely made my best friends through that program.”

“Jr. Flyers is where I grew up since I was 12, so it’s always gonna have a spot in my heart,” she added.

Published on February 19, 2025 at 11:17 pm

Contact Matthew: mgray06@syr.edu | @ma77hew_gray