Wisconsin senior to take ice in Cleveland warmup for 2026 Olympics
© USA Hockey
William Douglas has been writing The Color of Hockey blog since 2012. Douglas joined NHL.com in 2019 and writes about people of color in the sport. Today, he profiles U.S. Women’s National Team and University of Wisconsin defenseman Laila Edwards ahead of the 2025 Rivalry Series opener against Canada at Rocket Arena in Edwards’ hometown of Cleveland.
Laila Edwards says it’s always special when the United States and Canada women’s national hockey teams face each other, but the opening game of the 2025 Rivalry Series on Thursday will be extra special for her.
The game is at Rocket Arena (7 p.m. ET; NHLN) in downtown Cleveland, about 8 miles from the Cleveland Heights home of the 21-year-old defenseman, who could become the first Black woman to play hockey for the United States when the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 begin in February.
“Oh yeah, it’s going to be unreal,” Edwards said via Zoom at the Team USA Media Summit in New York on Tuesday. “I mean, just to have everyone who grew up with me, who played such a big part of where I am now, to be able to watch me at the biggest stage, I think it’s crazy to think about. I’m going to be experiencing a lot of emotions but also hoping to make everyone proud by beating the Canadians.”
It will be a busy homecoming for Edwards, a University of Wisconsin senior who led NCAA Division I women in goals last season (35) and was a top-three finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, voted as the top player in women’s college hockey.
She’s slated to participate in a meet-and-greet, autograph signing, and bring a friend to skate session with Cleveland area youth hockey players at Brunswick Auto Mart Arena in Strongsville, Ohio, on Monday, as well as other events she hopes will spur girls’ hockey in the Cleveland area.
“I hope it will bring more attention to it and get more girls and everyone more invested in hockey, spark more girls’ interest in hockey,” she said. “I think that would be really cool, to inspire girls to work harder and go to the next level.”
Edwards is one of three Black women from Cleveland who have already reached that level along with her older sister, Chayla, and Blake Bolden.
© University of Wisconsin Athletics
Chayla was a defenseman who had 57 points (two goals, 55 assists) in 173 games with Wisconsin from 2019-24, and won the NCAA Division I women’s championship in 2023 with her younger sister.
The sisters got into hockey through their father, Robert Edwards, a longtime player and fan. He and his wife, Charone Gray Edwards, took their daughters skating at the Cleveland Heights Community Center almost every day with their older brother, Bobby, who went on to play club hockey at Bowling Green State University, and youngest sibling, Colson, who is a forward for Worcester of the United States Premier Hockey League.
Laila played on boys’ teams with the Cleveland Lumberjacks before moving onto girls hockey with Bishop Kearney Selects in Rochester, New York. Chayla also played boys’ hockey locally before she attended Shady Side Academy in Pittsburgh and joined the Pittsburgh Penguins Elite girls’ program.
Bolden is a scout and community and hockey development specialist for the Los Angeles Kings and ESPN hockey analyst who got hooked on the sport by her mother’s boyfriend, Leslie Dean, who she considers a father. He was a police officer and hockey enthusiast who worked part-time as security for the Cleveland Lumberjacks of the old International Hockey League at Gund Arena.
“I used to go to all the IHL games in Cleveland,” Bolden told the Color of Hockey in 2015. “Because he worked for the team, I used to get to go into the locker room, they (Lumberjacks players) would come to my birthday parties, the mascot would show up everywhere, and I was just totally enthralled. Hockey became my life ever since.”
Bolden played on elite boys’ teams in Cleveland until she attended the Northwood School in Lake Placid, New York. She later played with Boston College, where she was a captain and had 82 points (26 goals, 56 assists) in 139 games from 2009-13, became the first Black first-round selection in the Canadian Women’s Hockey League in 2013 and first Black player selected in the National Women’s Hockey League in 2015.
“I definitely looked up to her,” Laila Edwards said. “Someone who looks like me, who’s successful at a high level, I thought that was so cool. I want to keep doing that for girls in Cleveland and girls all over.”
© Adam Pantozzi/NHLI via Getty Images
Bolden, who is a member of the NHL Player Inclusion Coalition, said it was comforting knowing there were other women of color in her hometown following her into the sport.
“It was kind of like, ‘All right, we’re growing a little bit,’” she said. “I don’t know, maybe it’s something in the water. But I am proud of those young women.”
Bolden said she’s thrilled about the Cleveland Rivalry Series game and its potential impact on girls’ hockey in the region.
“I don’t think we’ve had such a huge game in that Midwest area, so I think it’s a really cool focal point,” she said. “I think it’s going to be a huge event and bring out a lot of female hockey fans, no matter what age, and younger brothers of girls that play hockey. I think it’s going to be really fun, and I hope to be there.”
The Rivalry Series opener in Cleveland is the first of four games. The others are at KeyBank Center in Buffalo on Saturday (6 p.m. ET; NHLN) and and Dec. 9-10 at Rogers Place in Edmonton (7 p.m. ET; NHLN).
USA Hockey selected Cleveland and Buffalo as game sites because the nation’s hockey governing body wants to highlight women’s and international hockey in different parts of the country before the Olympics, said Melissa Katz, a USA Hockey communications manager.
“Cleveland and Buffalo just rose to the top of the list,” Katz said. “And having that hometown tie-in with Laila Edwards, as well as the handful of players being Buffalo area natives, it just made sense.”
Laila Edwards said she believes the Rivalry Series will serve as a good gauge for the U.S. against its toughest opponent before the Olympics. It will also give her a chance to sharpen her skills on defense, a position change she made after she was named MVP of the 2024 IIHF Women’s World Championship as a forward, when she had eight points (six goals, two assists) on 10 shots in seven games at the tournament in Utica, New York.
© Peter Baldwin
Edwards and U.S. coach John Wroblewski have said the position switch enhances her chance of maintaining a spot on an offensively deep American squad that includes Hilary Knight, Alex Carpenter and Kendall Coyne Schofield.
Edwards made her defensive debut for the U.S. in the Rivalry Series last season, when Canada won 3-2. She is listed as a forward/defenseman at Wisconsin, but coach Mark Johnson said she is primarily being used on the blue line.
Edwards missed five games for Wisconsin after she injured her left knee in the second period of a 4-3 win against Minnesota Duluth on Oct. 11. Before that, she had six points (three goals, three assists) in six games and was named Western Collegiate Hockey Association Defender of the Week on Oct. 6 after she totaled four points (two goals, two assists) in a pair of 5-0 wins against Maine on Oct. 3 and 4.
She has since returned to the lineup, and had a goal and an assist for Wisconsin (11-1-0) in a 7-2 win against Minnesota on Saturday.
“I think she’s getting more comfortable there, getting more experience back there,” Johnson said. “She’s a really gifted athlete so some things come easy. But other things she has to work at, but she’s willing to do it.”
Edwards said Wisconsin and U.S. women’s national team coaches have been helpful in the position change. She also has her sister to lean on.
“She was always the defensive defenseman that just knew how to skate and knew how to play defense, and I feel like that’s what I didn’t have,” Laila said. “She gave me some tips and confidence which I appreciate. Even just watching her game has helped me add things to my game.”
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