Former Yale women's hockey player Mandi Schwartz, who has been waging a gallant and inspiring fight against leukemia, passed away today.

The news broke on twitter about three hours. @MandisHeroes posted "We regret to inform everyone that Mandi Schwartz passed away at 10:35 am PST surrounded by her wonderful family, fiance and friends."

The story of Schwartz, an elite athlete struck down in her prime, would be heartbreaking on so many levels but the class and dignity Mandi showed during this process, the relapses and seemingly endless treatments touched so many. Certainly the Yale community got behind Schwartz and not just the women's hockey program. I've covered the bone marrow registry drive in the past and so many members of the Yale athletics family did all they could in an attempt to find a match for Schwartz.

Here is a story I wrote on Mandi about last year's drive.

There is another drive set for April 21 at Yale and I would imagine tears will be flowing on that day.