"After my official visit when I went there, everything felt good," said Hardwick, a senior at Cardinal Mooney. "I liked the school, the girls were cool and nice. Something was just telling me Wayne State was right."
Flanked by her family, members of the Mooney administration and travel coach Paul Moretz, Hardwick signed a national letter-of-intent Wednesday. She's receiving a full tuition scholarship.
Hardwick plays wing for the Little Caesars 19-and-under team. She also considered Syracuse, St. Lawrence and Mercyhurst, among others. She plans to study pre-dentistry and become an orthodontist.
"I've kind of always wanted to (play college hockey)," Hardwick said. "I just kept going with it and hoped everything would play out."
Her father, Jim, said Rachel had been playing hockey since she was 3 years old. All of the years of taking her all over the country for tournaments has paid off.
"We started getting wind of it about three, four years ago that she had some talent with the possibility that she could play Division 1 hockey," Jim Hardwick said. "That was her dream the whole time was to progress and play for a college."
Wayne State plays in the College Hockey America Conference. The Warriors have advanced to the CHA Tournament title game each of the past three years.
Their home rink is where Hardwick's Little Caesars team practices.
"We're happy because it's close, and we'll get to see some home games," Jim Hardwick said. "The education that she'll get there is second to none. It's close, and the coach (Jim Fetter) that she'll be playing for, she's got the utmost respect for.
"It's going to be easier to get to (games) and a little easier on the pocketbook, that's for sure. We're looking forward to it."
Rachel Hardwick still has plenty of season remaining with Little Caesars, and she's looking forward to playing without the added pressure of having to pick a school.
"It's definitely a relief," she said. "But I still have to play good because it could just as easily be taken away. So I still have to show up."
