Wilmette’s Emma Vlasic skating path for her and others in women’s pro hockey league

Building the future is hard work, and Emma Vlasic is putting in the hours.

On most weekdays, Vlasic completes a 9-to-5 before driving 55 minutes to the ice. There, the pro hockey player practices with her Connecticut Whale teammates to prepare for weekend competition in the six-team Premier Hockey Federation.

Then, it is back home, hopefully before midnight, for a few-hours rest before “the grind” resets. It’s exhausting and worth it — even if it may not be her future that she’s building.

“I love waking up and doing it every day, building the league to be something that women can do full time. Right now, we’re building toward that,” said Vlasic, who grew up in Wilmette. “… Whatever role I can play in that journey, whether I play two or three, or five, or one year. I love hockey. What you want to see is for it to get to a place where it can be a career option.”

The PHF — formerly the National Women’s Hockey League — began its eighth season in early November. The Whale dropped their first game 4-0 to the defending league champs, the Boston Pride, on Nov. 5. Vlasic, a member of the Whale’s leadership unit, ripped three shots in the defeat.

Vlasic is in her fourth full season (including a season shortened because of COVID-19) with the Whale. She led the team in goals (9) as a rookie in 2019-2020, when she was named an All-Star, and last season, Vlasic had 13 (4 goals, 9 assists) points in 20 games as the Whale (15-5) earned the most wins in the league.

A New Trier High School graduate, Vlasic entered the pro hockey league after her stint with Yale University, located in New Haven, Connecticut. Following college graduation, Vlasic explored her options for hockey and for work.

“(PHL) was in its early stages, I had conversations with the coaching staff at Yale. The Swedish league is pretty good, but I wanted to stay in the states,” she said. “I think for me at the time, it was about job prospects too. I knew I wanted to get a job and support myself outside of hockey and I could live with one of my friends in Connecticut. It worked out well with the Whale.”

Vlasic’s hockey origins go back to a basement and a backyard rink in Wilmette, where the three Vlasic siblings — Eric, Emma and Alex — played the game day and night, summer and winter. Maybe it was something…