Marina Boyajian '26 Recruiting Profile

My name is Marina Boyajian and I am a 5’9” center/forward in the class of 2026. 

I am a three-sport athlete playing hockey, volleyball, and lacrosse.  I have played hockey since I was 6 years old. Prior to last fall, I played club soccer for 10 years, and played soccer in high school my freshman year.  About two years ago, I realized that I have a great passion for hockey, so I made it a priority over soccer and made the tough decision to stop playing competitive soccer going into my sophomore high school year.  However, I understand that playing other sports while playing hockey may be helpful to me as an athlete so I am playing high school volleyball and lacrosse (along with varsity boys hockey) in high school for the near future to the extent there are no conflicts with hockey.

I’m currently 16 years old and I am in my fourth club season playing for the New Jersey Bandits Girls program.  I am playing up on the 19U Tier 1 team (playing out of the Ice Vault in Wayne, NJ).  My head coach is Walt Keiper, and the director of girls hockey for our program is Brooke Ammerman, who played college hockey and won 2 national championships at U. Wisconsin.

I currently play center and wing for my team, and while playing for the Bandits over the past 3 years, I have really tried to understand the non-scoring aspects of the game, including forechecking, backchecking and being a solid two-way player. My favorite player is Patrice Bergeron who played for the Bruins so I try and learn from watching how he plays.

Before playing with the Bandits, I played for the NJ Devils Girls Youth program.  While playing for the Devils, I played all positions on the ice (other than goalie).  When I came to the Bandits, I was playing defense, but was moved to forward in the middle of my first season with the team. I believe that by playing many positions, I have a good sense of positioning and what each player should be doing when on the ice.

In addition to our three a week Bandits practices, I try to get as much outside ice time as possible by playing on my hometown high school boys varsity team and assisting coaching the 10U Girls Bandits team. I have started off-ice conditioning with a workout program run by the training staff at the Ice Vault.

I have a strong interest in the field of civil engineering and as of now, that would be a major I would want to pursue.  I understand that schoolwork and my studies are very important and I would say that I am a strong student, with a focus on getting my work done before practice each day. In addition to my schoolwork and sports, I do a wide variety of outside activities, such as musical theater, art, and volunteering at the local food pantry.