Boston resident served as unofficial hockey consultant

Hockey plays a big role in Pixar's Inside Out 2, the multibillion-dollar box office hit that follows Riley (Kensington Tallman), a young teenage girl, as she navigates new emotions while skating through a weekend at hockey camp. From the way the uniforms match the animated characters to how players While Pixar provided the sticks, they made sure the sport was accurately depicted by tapping Tracey Roberts, a Boston native and former Colby College hockey player, as an unofficial consultant on the film.

Roberts' passion for hockey was passed down to her over the years as a family heirloom. Her father, Arthur, was an avid player himself and earned a full scholarship to Boston College for his hockey skills. Roberts, who grew up on Boston's Beacon Street and was born while her father was attending night school in BC, was on the ice at age 3 and figure skating at age 5. She switched to ice hockey when she was 8 due to an injury she sustained while figure skating.

Her interest in sports continued to grow as a teenager and young adult. She played on the boys JV hockey team at Tabor Academy in Marion before moving on to play for the women's team at Colby College in the late 1980s, where she earned a dual degree in economics and fine arts. Former teammate Kay Cowperthwait recalls calling Roberts Tracey Bob during their playing days at the university, as well as the long bus rides, traveling to matches abroad, surrounded by teammates, knitting sweaters to pass the time and stay warm.

When she’s not busy with her job as character technical director at Pixar in the company’s model rigging department, Roberts runs the girls’ developmental hockey program at the Bay Area’s Oakland Ice Center. Like Riley, hockey has always been a refuge for Roberts.

Whenever I had free time, I would just go to the rink in the morning and skate and shoot pucks, just to escape, Roberts told the Globe in a Zoom interview last week from her loft in Oakland, California.

Roberts wasn't yet working on Inside Out 2 when production on the film began, but her hockey background quickly spread and she was approached to unofficially join the team as an advisor.

A model rigging supervisor initially asked Roberts to give the team an informal lecture on hockey, offering feedback on how the equipment fit and moved. Eventually, Inside Out 2 director Kelsey Mann reached out to her for further advice, giving Roberts the opportunity to provide commentary on potential plays and the energy of the animated characters on screen as they played hockey.

Roberts also suggested the Inside Out 2 team bring in Olympic ice hockey star Kendall Coyne Schofield, who eventually lent her voice to the film as a hockey announcer. Other contributions included judging some of the projects' dailies, a practice at animation companies in which animators present their work for feedback.

I logged in on Zoom and watched it while I was creating a character for another movie, Roberts said. I had my coffee in the morning and looked at all the hockey diaries that had been published the night before and just saw if they fit together.

There were a few times early on where the girls were holding their sticks in the wrong hand, she added, noting some of the little details that people unfamiliar with hockey might miss. It’s amazing that these animators, some of whom have never played hockey, can animate these shots and it looks so real.

Roberts would also occasionally Play games on Oakland Ice with some other animators who had experience with the sport.

We went out to skate and the animators were practicing the play that Riley was going to do, and I had the camera filming them, Roberts said. I felt really lucky that I could help out.

Whether she's collaborating with others on a film or helping the next generation fall in love with hockey, Roberts continues to carry on the lessons of teamwork she learned from her experiences on the ice.

You've always got to be there for your players, you've always got to be there for your kids, and your teammates on the ice or in a crew, Roberts said. I think it ultimately makes for a better product and makes you a winning team.

Inside Out 2 is in theaters now.

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You can contact Maria Jose Gutierrez Chavez at [email protected].