This story was initially aired and published in April of 2024, right after Texas Tech’s club hockey team wrapped up its 2023 season, the first since its creation in 1999 without a roster consisting solely of men.
The subject of the story is now-Red Raider alum Riley Phillips, the first female hockey player in Texas Tech’s intramural program history.
As a junior at Texas Tech pursuing a degree in engineering, Riley Phillips said she sometimes feels pressure as a young woman in the STEM field.
When asked about her favorite way to relieve stress, Phillips quickly turned to her favorite sport — hockey.
“Being an engineer, there's a lot of pressure on you just to work through it,” Phillips said. “So, to get some of that anger and frustration out with school out on the ice against other teams is super nice.”
Before becoming the first-ever female member of Texas Tech’s club hockey team — and long before she began stressing over STEM coursework — Phillips was simply a young girl who loved the ice.
“I started skating when I was about three and fell in love with it about three, four-ishish and I realized that's just kind of what I want to do for the rest of my life,” Phillips said.
She said she frequently traveled to Amarillo to figure skate before learning about the Texas Tech hockey team on Instagram, which plays games at the same rink.
“I was planning to go to a game just kind of watch and then I was gonna be like, Hey do you need another coach I'd love to come help coach not actually play. And then I realized they were doing mid-season tryouts and I told them, ‘You know what? I'm just gonna go try out for the team.’”
Phillips said she always wanted to play goalie growing up but was often considered too small for the position. Instead, she spent most of her life playing defense.
She played winger in her first season for the Red Raiders — a role her coach felt better suited her speed and agility on the ice.
“As a winger, your job is to just kind of protect the puck. So I've definitely taken a few hard hits,” Phillips said.
“But I mean at the same rate, I also check a lot of guys on the wall.”
