Laila Edwards goes from forward to defense to make the Olympics
Team USA hockey’s Laila Edwards talks to USAT’s Nancy Armour about the flip from forward to defense in order for her to make Olympic team.
Sports Seriously
CORTINA d’AMPEZZO — Many of the applications submitted for Black Girl Hockey Club’s grants and scholarships now have a common theme:
Laila Edwards.
“They say, ‘Oh, I want to make it to Division I and I see people like Laila have and that inspires me.’ Or, `I’m the only girl or girl of color on my team but I see Laila and that helps me keep going.’ Just adorable, heartwarming things,” said Taylor Green, director of digital marketing and a board member for the non-profit.
“Things that let you know her impact is really being felt, on and off the ice.”
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Imagine how much greater it will be after the Milano Cortina Olympics, which have given most of the country its first introduction to Edwards.
Edwards is one of the best hockey players in the game, MVP of the 2024 world championships and so incredibly skilled she’s made a near-seamless transition from forward to defenseman. (Just how hard is that? Imagine asking Patrick Mahomes to play defensive back and you kind of get the idea.)
She has a goal and three assists through the first four games at the Olympics, and her seven points are tied for second-most by a defender. She’s played the second-most minutes of the Americans.
As vital as Edwards is to the U.S. women, though, the difference she’s making for all those young Black women and girls who play hockey, or who want to play hockey, is even greater.
It’s often said you need to see it in order to be it, and Edwards is that person when, for so long, there weren’t many, if any, Black women to be seen playing hockey. Certainly not at the elite level, where Edwards was the first Black woman to make the senior national team, first Black woman to represent the United States at the world championships and, now, the first Black woman on the U.S. Olympic hockey team.
“I definitely see it as an opportunity to be that representation for others that I didn’t necessarily have growing up,” Edwards told USA TODAY Sports. “It can be overwhelming, but to me, it’s a blessing that I can be that for someone else.”
Hockey has always been a relatively exclusive sport. It starts with geography, with ice not readily available throughout much of the country. Then the cost of gear, registration fees and ice time make it financially prohibitive for many people.
But the barriers have been even higher for people of color.
“Hockey is still perceived as a rich, white sport,” Green said. “There is a bit of toxicity still about who belongs in hockey and who should belong in hockey.”
Growing up, Edwards and her sister Chayla, who is almost three years older, had a handful of players to look up to. Blake Bolden, who is also from the Cleveland area, was the first Black woman to be a first-round draft pick in the CWHL and first-ever to play in the NWHL. Kaliya Johnson also played in the NWHL.
But Edwards was keenly aware that, wherever she and her sister went, there were very few other people on the ice who looked like them.
And that there were no women of color on the U.S. team.
“I just think I was like, ‘You know what? I don’t see it, but there’s got to be someone to do it.’ I was so motivated and I wanted it so badly,” Edwards said. “I would just push myself every single day and I’m finally here.
“So it’s awesome to be that for a young kid of color so that they can really see it and be it.”
Good thing, then, that U.S. fans are seeing a lot of Edwards. In Milano Cortina and for many years to come.
Edwards was a forward at the Under-18 world championships in 2022, leading the U.S. in scoring with four goals and four assists. She was named MVP of that tournament and best forward.
Two years later, again as a forward, Edwards again won MVP honors, this time at the senior world championships. She was the youngest player ever to win that title, and finished the tournament with six goals — three of which came in the semifinal win over Finland.
“The way that she’s just taken the world stage by storm was even more impressive because I remember being that age and how hard that jump is from college to international best-on-best, and she just had the world sort of jaw drop. Who is this MVPer?” U.S. captain Hilary Knight said.
But the U.S. women have an embarrassment of riches at forward. Knight. Kendall Coyne-Schofield. Taylor Heise. Alex Carpenter. Tessa Janecke. Abbey Murphy. If Edwards wanted to guarantee herself a spot on this Olympic team, the suggestion was made that maybe she should switch to defense.
“Growing up, I always had a love for defense. I played defense with boys until I was 13 at a fairly high level,” Edwards said. “(I thought), ‘Let’s give it a shot. I was successful at it in the past.’
“I’m learning every day how to get better at it amongst some incredible players and people and coaches.”
Edwards is being modest. She plays on the first line for the U.S. woman alongside veteran Megan Keller. She also now plays defense at Wisconsin, which led the country with 1.31 goals against as of Feb. 1.
“It’s nearly impossible for someone to do. And she’s made it seem seamless. It’s unbelievable,” Caroline Harvey, who has twice been voted best defenseman at the world championships, said emphatically.
The perspective of a defender is completely different than that of a forward. You’re seeing the play develop from the beginning, Harvey said, and must anticipate what is going to happen. Your view of the play is also narrowed, either because you’re skating backward to close off shot opportunities or you’re charging forward to chase the puck.
“To take the rush against some of the fastest players in the world, and to do it with such grace, is incredible,” Knight said.
Said Harvey, “It just speaks about the athlete she is and how athletic she is. It’s so crazy to see — I’ve never seen someone do that at this level and for her to do it, I don’t know. I don’t have many words for it. I’ve never seen it before.”
It is one thing for a team to have the best forwards or the best defenders. It is quite another to have someone who is the best wherever you put her. It gives the U.S. lineup a versatility few other countries can match.
It also bodes well for the future.
Knight has already said these are her final Olympics, and they could be the last for several other high-profile veterans, too. Though the young players coach John Wroblewski has brought in have thrived, there’s a big difference between following the lead of decorated veterans and having full responsibility for the team.
Knight, for one, is not concerned.
“I’m so encouraged and so excited,” she said. “It’s incredible where they’re going to take the sport. They’re already so good … and this is just scratching the surface of what their capabilities are.
“And then obviously they’re amazing advocates. The work that they do in their own communities, the off-ice work speaks for itself.”
No one more so than Edwards.
“I think sometimes people forget what’s on her shoulders in terms of visibility and growing the game,” Knight said. “To be one of the only BIPOC players on such a large stage is a huge responsibility, and one that she just handles so well that I think people forget what that burden is.”
Edwards is well aware of the responsibility she is carrying. But she only has to look around her on the ice, or watch as little girls light up when they see themselves reflected in Edwards, to know it’s worth it.
She might not fully appreciate how big a difference she’s making now because she’s still playing. But she knows she’s changing the game. For the better.
“There’s no better feeling,” Edwards said. “It gives me chills. I’m truly making an impact just by doing something I love.”
