Color of Hockey: Playing for U.S. in Paralympics Zheng's 'biggest dream'

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 Ailin Zheng, a 21-year-old skater for the U.S. Women’s National Sled Hockey Team that won a gold medal at the first World Para Ice Hockey Women’s Championship in Dolny Kubin, Slovakia in August.

Ailin Zheng is rapidly compiling “firsts.”

Zheng is a member of the U.S. Women’s National Sled Hockey Team that won the gold medal in the first World Para Ice Hockey Women’s Championship in Dolny Kubin, Slovakia, on Aug. 31. Before that, she made history by scoring the first goal at the inaugural Para Ice Hockey Women’s World Challenge in Green Bay, Wisconsin, in August 2022.

But the 21-year-old from Queens, New York, and her teammates have their sights set on another deeply desired first: playing in the Paralympics.

“I think for all of us, it's our biggest dream,” Zheng said. “To be able to compete at that level, internationally and be able to compete for gold like we always watch the men's side of the sport. As female athletes, it's inspiring to see them play at that level, and it makes us want to push harder to be at that level as well.”

Women’s sled hockey isn’t currently a Paralympic sport, and Zheng and other women sled hockey players are determined to change that and view the first World Para Ice Hockey Women’s Championship as a steppingstone along the path.

Five countries -- the U.S., Australia, Canada, Great Britain and Norway, along with a team comprised of players from several other nations competed in the tournament. The U.S. went undefeated 4-0-0-0 (W-OTW-OTL-L) and outscored opponents 34-1.

The U.S. defeated Canada 7-1 in the championship game, when Kelsey DiClaudio had four goals. Zheng contributed to the U.S. effort in the tournament with five points (two goals, three assists) in three games.

“I see her as a contributing part of this team for a long time to come,” U.S. Women’s National Sled Team coach Rose Misiewicz said. “I don't think that she's reached her max. She just keeps developing and improving every time we're together. I see her with us and on our team for quite a while.”

The U.S. women hope to replicate the dominance the U.S. Men’s National Sled Hockey Team enjoys on the international stage. They have won gold medals in five Paralympic Winter Games (2022, 2018, 2014, 2010, 2002) and are seven-time World Para Ice Hockey Championship gold medalists (2025, 2023, 2021, 2019, 2015, 2012, 2009).

The U.S. women’s team is building a winning foundation with the World Para Ice Hockey Women’s Championship gold and going undefeated on route to three consecutive Para Ice Hockey Women's World Challenge titles.

Zheng and the U.S. will need more countries involved in women’s sled hockey to make their Paralympics dreams come true.

“I think we're definitely getting closer,” Zheng said. “We had different teams this year compared to previous world challenges where we started out with just the U.S., Canada, Great Britain and a Team World. Starting from four to six, we’re seeing the sport grow. And I think by 2030 we have a good change of getting more countries involved.”

Zheng has been playing sled hockey since she was 10 years old after a friend and his parents asked if she wanted to give the sport a try. Four years earlier, Zheng was diagnosed with transverse myelitis -- a rare neurological condition caused by inflammation in the spinal cord -- which left her paralyzed from the waist down.

She quickly fell in love with sled hockey and how playing it made her feel.

“I think it's just the feeling of being on the ice and being able to move kind of, like, freely,” she said. “When I'm on the ice, I have control of, like, what I can do.”

Zheng enrolled at the University of New Hampshire to study nursing and play for the Northeast Passage/UNH sled hockey team, one of the oldest programs in the country.

“A lot of other student athletes like me, we go to UNH to train because they have a very extensive and competitive program,” she said.

Zheng learned during the women’s World Para ice hockey tournament that she passed her nursing exam. She said she’s looking for work near Boston to stay close to UNH’s Durham, New Hampshire, campus to play and train.

There’s a Paralympic dream to chase.