Bob Allen Award winner aims to inspire others | News, Sports, Jobs

U.S. women's national team member Laila Edwards, who was here last week for the USA Hockey Women's National Festival, has already achieved historic feats in her young hockey career. She earned another in May when she was named Bob Allen Player of the Year.

Last November, Edwards became the first-ever Black woman to be named to the U.S. national hockey team. Edwards said it's a little overwhelming to hold that title, but “in a good way.”

“It's incredible to hopefully be a role model and set a standard and show someone that 'if I can see it, I can be it.'” she said on Friday. “It's a little cliché, but I think it's true. When you see someone who looks like you playing at the highest level, it's motivating. I hope to motivate everyone, honestly, but especially girls of color.”

Edwards is not only a role model for young female hockey players, she is also a standout forward for the U.S. Her Bob Allen Player of the Year award, named in honor of Lake Placid native Bob Allen, is given to an outstanding female hockey player born in America.

Edwards, who is 20 and still in college, was the Most Outstanding Female Player this year despite being one of the youngest players on the U.S. Women's National Team.

In her first-ever IIHF Women's World Championship in April in Utica, Edwards dominated and tied for the tournament lead in goals with six. She was named tournament MVP, which she said “cool and all,” but she hoped to go home with a gold medal.

“I came there for one thing and it didn't happen,” she said. “But the experience I had with that team was something I would never, ever, ever trade for anything. Everyone on that team treated me with so much respect, they're such great leaders, great coaches and I had the time of my life.”

She was the youngest non-goalie ever to be named World Cup MVP and her play in Utica actually earned her the Bob Allen Award, which she called an honor.

“When you look at the previous list of people who have won that award, it is an honor to be among those names, and I am super grateful for that,” she said. “It also shows that there is still work to be done. I have a lot more to do.”

Edwards was 1 year old when the award was renamed in honor of Allen, who died in 2007.

Allen was the president of the 1998 gold medal-winning U.S. women's Olympic ice hockey team. He was considered the godfather of the U.S. women's ice hockey team and was the torch relayer for the 2002 Olympics. He also worked for the city of North Elba for 25 years, managing the Olympic Center with the North Elba Park District from 1967 until his retirement in 1981. His son, Denny, replaced him in 1982.

Allen is a big part of the reason Lake Placid has hosted the USA Hockey Women’s National Festival almost every year since the late ’90s — most famously in 1998 when women’s hockey was added to the Winter Olympics. The event was canceled in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. In 2021, it was held in Blaine, Minnesota, and in 2022 it was moved to Buffalo.

Edwards has attended hockey camps in Lake Placid several times, but when she looks back at the 1980 Herb Brooks Arena at the Olympic Center, she still feels a sense of nostalgia.

She's only 20, so much of her knowledge of the events that happened here in 1980 comes from the 2004 Disney film “Miracle.” But one name stands out to her: Mark Johnson.

Johnson, a member of the U.S. hockey team at the 1980 Olympics, also happens to be Edwards' hockey coach at the University of Wisconsin.

“He is a great coach”, said Edwards. “We don't have a strict line, he trusts us. He implements systems but lets us play our game, which is incredible. He doesn't overdo it, he has great balance and he has a lot in his head to learn.”

At Wisconsin, Edwards helped her team to its 15th NCAA Frozen Four appearance as a sophomore, posting a career-high 56 points on 21 goals and 35 assists and 17 multi-point games.

Edwards, who grew up in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, made hockey her top priority when she was 13. She skated until she was 5, playing boys' hockey for most of that time until she took up hockey, after which she attended boarding school in Rochester.

While Edwards is rising in prominence on the U.S. national team, she takes nothing for granted and wants to inspire more girls to play hockey.

“That's one of my biggest motivators right now: to inspire more girls to get into hockey because it's a very male-dominated sport,” she said. “I think sometimes the inspiration is a little bit lacking. (Hopefully I can) help with that inspiration to get more girls playing hockey. And other girls can get other girls playing, kind of a domino effect.”