Coming Home: Lyndie Lobdell Set For PWHL Action At The Allstate Arena

Rookie defenseman Lyndie Lobdell has March 25 circled on her calendar for the Seattle Torrent PWHL “home game” against the New York Sirens … at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont.

The PWHL Takeover Series this season features 16 neutral-site games across 11 cities, including several first-time host markets. The tour runs through April 7 in Edmonton. The cities hosting the most games include Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Edmonton, and Halifax, each hosting two games. The tour aims to expand the reach of the Professional Women’s Hockey League and engage new fans by staging double-weekend packages and rivalry rematches.

Rookie Sarah Wozniewicz scored her first career PWHL goal last December 21, the overtime game-winner for the Ottawa Charge in a 3-2 triumph over the Minnesota Frost in the PWHL Takeover Tour at Allstate Arena. A crowd of 7,238 watched the PWHL battle between the 2025 PWHL Walter Cup finalists.

Charge forward Taylor House, a Chicago-area native who formerly skated for the Chicago Fury, said: “It’s huge to have the chance to play in front of your home fans and being given the chance to grow the game here and see how far it’s come since I’ve even played here. There are so many more girls’ teams around. It was pretty special to see the turnout for this. We felt the energy. The lower bowl was fully packed. Chicago was excited for this hockey, and it showed.”

Added Minnesota captain Kendall Coyne Schofield: “I thought about (the December game) and what it would have meant if I had the opportunity to come here as an 8-, 9-, 10-year-old little girl, to see this and dream about it. How special it was (in December) to see the arena filled with boys and girls, knowing that they now will have that same dream to grow up and be a professional hockey player, if they’re good enough to do so, and they can do so. I was so proud to be able to be a part of bringing professional hockey here to Chicago.”

Now Lobdell has her chance when the Torrent comes to town.

“It’ll be very surreal,” said Lobdell, who expects she’ll need 100 tickets for family, friends, former teammates and others. “It’s a long laundry list.”

“I want Chicago to get a (PWHL) team; that would be the coolest thing ever.”

She’s never played at the Allstate Arena and said, “it’ll be really cool.”

Lobdell, 23, was raised with her two sisters in Aurora and her dad, a former Western Michigan University defenseman who walked on and earned a captaincy, becoming her first coach. She played youth hockey for the Naperville Sabres, Chicago Mission and Naper Valley Warriors in Metro Girls.

She won four Illinois state championships with the Mission from 2015 to 2019. In 2016, her U16 Mission team finished as runners-up at the USA Hockey Tier 1 National Championship, and in 2018, she won the USA Hockey Tier 1 National Championship with the Chicago Mission U19 team.

Lobdell was an all-state honoree with the Warriors and, in 2019, she was named All-State MVP.

“It’s really cool,” representing Illinois. “I never thought this (league) would happen, would be an opportunity,” she said. “I remember being a U12 and seeing all the amazing (Mission) players who I idolized, seeing them on and off the ice. They were extremely pivotal in my relationship in hockey, with my teammates and my overall motivation for the game. They showed me the potential, how things could go. The growth throughout the program was unbelievable. Some of the best coaches. The competition.

“My group, 2000-2002, we kicked each other’s butts; we challenged each other every single day. We made it fun; it was always such a joy to go to the rink. It was some of the best times of my life. The Mission did that for me and the growth I got from that was unbelievable.”

She treasures her time with the Sabres, too, which she tagged as, ‘a great development program.” And she vividly recalls past NIHL games and memories.

Lobdell remains in contact with “a lot” of her former teammates, particularly from the Mission. “I’m still buddies with the majority of my Mission friends,” she said, name-dropping many, such as Maggie Culp, Abbey Murphy, Ella Huber, Morgan Olson. “We all still stay connected. The Chicago Mission family, we stay connected.”

Tom Mandarino, assistant coach for this year’s Mission 19U girls’ team, said the club is “incredibly proud of Lyndie and all she has accomplished.”

She graduated as the highest-scoring defenseman in Penn State University history, then was drafted into the PWHL.

“During her time with the Mission, Lyndie’s work-ethic and competitive drive laid the foundation for (her) success,” Mandarino said. “She continues to be an outstanding role-model for the next generation of Mission girls.”

Jimmy Warrick, hockey director for the Winnetka Warriors, said Lobdell “is one of the most genuine people I have had the pleasure of working with.”

“You can tell she loves hockey. She would help at Winnetka coaching all levels as well as my summer camps,” Warrick said. “She is everyone’s favorite coach when she is there. 

“As a player, she is relentless. Her work ethic is unmatched and she has earned everything she has gotten in her career. She is the type of player that coaches want to work with. Players like her make my job so much fun. Seattle is lucky to have her!”

Warrick said Lobdell “is an extremely smart defenseman. She thinks the game extremely well and knows how to shut down opponents.”

And she’s Illinois’ own. “She is a huge part to Illinois hockey. Not only because of her success on the ice but she is the first person to give back to the community,” Warrick said. “She communicates with multiple younger girls I train and almost takes a mentor role with them. She may not even realize how special it is for these young girls to have this line of communication with someone like Lyndie.”

Warrick also has the PWHL game at the Allstate Arena circled on his calendar. “I am extremely excited to watch her play, to showcase to all young girls in our state her talents,” Warrick said. “Women’s hockey is growing and as a hockey director in Winnetka, we have so many girls in our program. It is amazing for them to have players like Lyndie to look up to and relate to.”

Lobdell hasn’t forgotten any of her past coaches and teammates from Illinois, all of whom played some part in helping her develop into the star she is. Such as Tony Cachey, a member of the Illinois Hockey Hall of Fame. “His coaching was probably the greatest I ever received,” Lobdell said. “His tough love was pivotal … and appreciated.”

She added, “I have so many Mission friends; I wouldn’t be who I am without those teammates.”

Lobdell played two seasons for Naper Valley which she said was, “a fun experience.”

Lobdell attended Metea Valley in Aurora and admitted that she wanted to play for the co-op Waubonsie Warriors boys’ team, but her dad wouldn’t approve. 

Slapshots With … Seattle Torrent Defenseman Lyndie Lobdell

One Game: She played an outdoor game at Soldier Field at U12. “That memory sticks in my mind.”
NIHL Tournament: “I always loved that, especially when we played against boys’ teams. I remember it so well.”
Kendall Coyne Schofield: “Angela Ruggiero was having a camp in Bensenville (years ago) and Kendall was one of the coaches. I remember being totally star-struck by her, scared to even talk to her. She was just the nicest person, silly with us. She was super cool, super nice – I wanted to be like her right then, when I was 7 or 8 (years-old).”
Playing against Kendall Coyne Schofield: “That has been so insane. I remember one game, we were in a footrace and I looked over my shoulder and see it’s Kendall. I’m like, ‘Oh shoot; she’s going to blow past me.’ And she did. It makes me want to play harder when I see her on the ice against me; it’s a very motivating thing; I know I have to be up to par at her level.”