Lea started playing ice hockey at the age of thirteen when she moved to Ann Arbor Michigan from Southern California.  Lea played for the Ann Arbor Bobcats where she was an assistant captain for two years.  Lea then went on to play for the Sylvania Maple Leafs travel hockey team in Sylvania Ohio.  After high school Lea went to Michigan State University where she played on their division one women’s club ice hockey team.  They had excellent coaches and won the CCWHA regular season championship, CCWHA tournament championship, and the ACHA National Championship.

Lea is an Ann Arbor Pioneer High School alumna, attending from 1995-1999.  During her junior year at Pioneer High School she attempted to start a girls ice hockey team. She is very happy to see that not only has a girls hockey team started at Pioneer but there was enough interest for both a varsity and a junior varsity team. Besides coaching hockey, Lea is also a teacher of social studies and technology to middle school and high school students.