Mandi Schwartz, a Yale women's hockey player who was the subject of a continent-wide search for a bone-marrow donor, died on Sunday after a battle with leukemia. She was 23.

Schwartz died at 1:35 p.m. ET on Sunday, surrounded by her loved ones after an illness of almost two years.

She was a forward on Yale's women's hockey team and had a string of 73 consecutive games played, a player known for her tenacity and spirit.

She was also the sister of St. Louis Blues' 2010 first-round draft pick Jaden Schwartz.

"From the entire St. Louis Blues organization, our thoughts and prayers are with the Schwartz family during this difficult time," Blues president John Davidson said in a statement.

Schwartz, who had acute myeloid leukemia, found out in April 2010 that the cancer, which had been in remission since May 2009 had returned. A test earlier that month showed the cancer was back in remission.

Yale said marrow drives on behalf of Schwartz had, as of last September, added over 4,200 people to donor registries in the U.S. and Canada. Schwartz was a native of Wilcox, Saskatchewan in Canada.

She started playing hockey at 6 with her brothers. She was

captain of the Athol Murray College of Notre Dame women's team in

Saskatchewan before enrolling in Yale's

Class of 2011.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.