The first women to play on the Georgia Tech men’s ice hockey team and first openly autistic Survivor player, Eva Erickson, nervously approached the Brown men’s ice hockey table. She was ready to pitch herself to another men’s team, and convince them that she, the 5’4” defender was the person they wanted breaking up plays at the blue line.
However when she stepped up to the table at the activity fair ready to pitch herself to the captain of the men’s team, he looked up and said to her, “Oh, my mom told me about you.”
____________________________________________________________________________
Eva Erickson is now well known for being the runner-up on Survivor 48, however before she was a finalist on Survivor, she was a trailblazing hockey player.
For Erickson, hockey was her passion, and if it wasn’t for the Georgia Tech men’s ice hockey team, who introduced her to Survivor, she wouldn’t be known as a Survivor player, rather a pioneer in growing women’s ice hockey in the south.
Erickson was eager to talk with The Hockey News about her career, and said, “I'm so excited to talk about hockey. Everyone's talking about Survivor. Let's talk about hockey.”
Growing up in Minnesota, Erickson began playing hockey at a young age. She played with Minnesota girls hockey, an elite competitive group that led her to the state tournament.
When it was time to further her education, Erickson decided that even though she got offers to play collegiate hockey at the NCAA level, she wanted to focus on her career. She wanted to become an engineer, and ultimately decided to go to Georgia Tech to get her Bachelor’s degree.
Joining Georgia Tech's Men's Hockey Team
Upon arriving, Erickson found out that there was a men’s club ice hockey team at Georgia Tech. She was browsing Facebook for a roommate, when one of the current players found her profile and reached out, encouraging her to try out for the team. She decided to give it a chance, and said to herself, "'if I don't try out, then I’m never gonna get what I want,' I had to at least give it a shot.”
Erickson made the team and quickly had to adjust to playing men’s ice hockey again. She had initially played with men’s teams growing up, but she had not played checking hockey before. However, she described herself as a ‘very aggressive women’s hockey player’.
When playing in leagues growing up, Erickson said, “my own teammates were kind of mad at me about that, but it served me very well moving into men's hockey, and now I am a very gritty player.”
Her aggressive style of play translated well to the men’s game.
Erickson played two seasons with Georgia Tech, and the 5’4” defender recorded two goals in the 2021-22 season. As both a small defender and the only woman on the ice, Erickson learned how to adjust her play.
“I was so nervous at first, because I was like, man, what are they going to think of me? It was definitely intimidating, but the team very quickly realized what kind of person I am, and that I will take whatever shit they give me and I'll give it right back to them," said Erickson. "So it was very quick that I got ingratiated there and became a full member of the team."
She was able to use her speed and skill to dominate on the ice. She also had another tool that helped her fit right in: her chirping.
“I take a lot of hits, but I also give a lot of hits. I'm often getting in guys heads [and] chirping them. My favorite is just to tell guys that I weigh more than them. They hate being chirped by a little 5-foot-4 girl”
Erickson's Introduction To "Survivor"
Erickson also developed a good dynamic with the team off of the ice. Her teammates at Georgia Tech had become her good friends. They would often get together and play a unique drinking game that would foreshadow Erickson’s future adventures.
What the drinking game was that they played? Survivor.
According to Erickson, it was “like your classic college drinking game," where each person would be placed in a tribe, they would have competitions, and if the team lost, they had to vote someone out.
The team would also binge the older seasons of Survivor together. Some of her teammates even said “Eva, you would kick all their asses. You should go there and do it.”
And that she did. Erickson applied and competed in Survivor 48, being the runner-up winner. Her strategy for the game? The same one she used in the drinking game with her college teammates.
“It's very funny, because the first time we played [the drinking game], I won. I had used the strategy that I made an extremely tight alliance with one person, and we went to the end together. I did the same thing on Survivor.”
Hockey Helped Erickson On Survivor
Erickson’s teammates joined together to help her prepare, one of them even made a Google Document highlighting stats, strategies, and game play Erickson should use. Her background as an athlete also helped with the more physical challenges, she often credited her ‘hockey legs’ for winning the pole challenge in episode five.
Although she didn’t win the season, Erickson found she used her hockey skills to help her navigate through the competition. She said, “I have always been very, very protective of the people I care about, and that was really reflected in Survivor. If someone's hitting my goalie, I'm gonna go fight them.”
Erickson used the strategies created by her teammates and was able to form close alliances in the game that helped her survive until the end. She also said she used her protective instincts she had learned as a hockey player.
She said, “I am a very ‘shut-down defenseman’ or ‘stay at home D classic’. I make sure people don't score goals and I think very much on the defensive side, and in Survivor, I did too. I thought I must defend my people and make sure we get through this together, because that's my team.”
Erickson’s strategy worked as she made it to the final three contestants, where she was then voted runner up to Survivor 48 winner, Kyle Fraser. The journey on Survivor was about something bigger for Erickson, she was able to compete as the first openly autistic Survivor contestant.
Erickson said she was diagnosed with autism when she was a kid. She was then put in intensive therapy to learn social skills she lacked, like interacting with other kids. Around the same time coincidentally, her parents decided to also enroll her in ice hockey.
The two began to overlap, as Erickson saw a change in her development. She found that going from station to station in practice helped her learn about dealing with transition. Having to communicate with her teammates on the ice helped her socially develop. Having something to zero in on, like a game or practice, helped her learn to concentrate on the tasks in front of her on and off of the ice.
Most importantly Erickson said the gear helped with her episodes or ‘meltdowns’, which the National Autism Society defines as, “A meltdown is an intense response to an overwhelming situation. It happens when someone becomes completely overwhelmed by their current situation and temporarily loses control of their behaviour. ”
She said she found that “one thing that really helps me when I'm having an episode or getting over stimulated is compression. The gear you wear, your elbow pads, your shoulder pads, everything is compressing your whole body. And that had a calming effect on me.”
Erickson opening up about her episodes on the show raised awareness for those with Autism. She also worked with Minnesota Special Hockey throughout the Survivor season to fundraise and for giving people with autism and other special needs the chance to play hockey, because it was so impactful on her development when she was a kid.
Not only did she bring hockey into Survivor, Erickson also had several hockey-related opportunities because of Survivor. Following the season, she was able to attend two thrilling playoff games; a Stanley Cup Finals game and a PWHL playoff game.
For Erickson, being able to go support women’s hockey was huge. She said, “I didn't have that when I was a kid, my dad would bring me to women's gopher games, because he was like, ‘Oh, you watch the NHL, but those are boys, I want you to see good female players.’”
Erickson recalled feeling so happy for the sport when looking around at the PWHL game and seeing how many little girls were in the stands. She noted she was overjoyed to see her favorite player, Kendall Coyne Schofield, in action.
An Inspiration For Young Girls
Her story alone has inspired many younger players. Erickson has received messages from younger girls who play hockey that said they look up to her as a role model or messages from people with autism who play hockey as well. “So many people love to just see themselves represented on TV, and I'm so grateful to have gotten to be that person for so many people” she said.
Erickson’s career is far from over. She is currently studying at Brown University, where she is a Ph.D. candidate in engineering and fluid and thermal science.
When making the transition from Georgia Tech to Brown, Erickson talked herself into trying out for the men’s hockey team at Brown.
Erickson thought she would have to earn her place again on the team and was ready to convince these guys that they need to respect her.
However when she stepped up to the table at the activity fair ready to pitch herself to the captain of the men’s team, he said to her, “Oh, my mom told me about you.”
The captain’s mom had done a deep dive on the Georgia Tech hockey team for his younger brother and upon seeing that Erickson had played there and was then coming to Brown, the mom had alerted the team, and they were ready to have her immediately.
Three years later, Erickson currently serves as the captain of the men’s club ice hockey team.
She said, “I went from being a fourth-line grinder at Georgia Tech to being the first line D pairing at Brown.”
Although the Survivor season has ended, Erickson continues to raise awareness for women in hockey and specifically autistic hockey players.
She has taken on several firsts in her career; first woman to play on the Georgia Tech men’s ice hockey team and first openly autistic survivor player. Her advice for everyone is, “the best thing you can ever be is yourself, and if somebody doesn't like you for who you are as a person, you don't need them. You do what you want to do, what you think is best for you, the things that you care about, and that's how you're going to find happiness.”