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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, as part of NHL.com's celebration of Black History Month, he profiles Chyna Taylor, a 15-year-old defenseman on the United States team that won the silver medal at the 2025 International Ice Hockey Federation Under-18 Women’s World Championship in Vantaa, Finland, on Jan. 12. She is the first player from Kentucky to represent the U.S. at any level at an IIHF event or the Olympics.

Whatever doubts Chyna Taylor had about whether she belonged on the United States team at the International Ice Hockey Federation Under-18 Women’s World Championship were long gone by the end of the title game.

The 15-year-old defenseman from Louisville, Kentucky, had a silver medal and a gift bag presented to her after being named the best U.S. player in a 3-0 loss to Canada in the gold medal game in Vantaa, Finland on Jan. 12.

“Throughout all of the games, I felt way more confident in myself, like, realizing that I belong there and stuff,” she said. “I think I realized that more and more, and I just became way more confident.”

Taylor made history as the first player from Kentucky to represent the U.S. at any level -- men’s or women’s -- at an IIHF event or the Olympics.

The sophomore at Lovell Academy in Rockland, Massachusetts, left a lasting impression as one of the up-and-coming U.S. women’s players who’ll be coveted by top NCAA schools, which she hopes will be a springboard to achieving her dream of competing in the Olympics.

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It’s rare for a 15-year-old to make the Under-18 national team. But coach Liz Keady Norton said the team’s youngest player showed poise beyond her years by registering two assists and playing in all situations in her first international tournament and trip overseas.

“I think she played better and better as the tournament went and, all of a sudden, she was on your power play and penalty kill, and she did a lot of things really, really well,” said Norton, in her first season coaching girls’ hockey at Milton Academy in Milton, Massachusetts, after three seasons as coach of Dartmouth College’s NCAA Division I women’s team.

“She has elite skating ability, so she's able to shut down plays,” Norton said. “She's really poised with the puck, she's explosive. She almost never gets beat, and when she does, she recovers really, really well.”

Ice hockey isn’t the first sport that comes to mind in Kentucky, a state known more for college basketball and thoroughbred horse racing. Taylor began figure skating at around age 4, said her grandfather, Tim New.

But Taylor said she found figure skating boring. She was intrigued when she saw people playing hockey at a local rink.

“I thought it was just so much cooler, and it looked a lot more fun,” she said. “Hockey, the competition was, like, fun, I guess. Competing and playing with a team and having a group who work together, that’s what I wanted to do.”

Figure skating lessons may have been boring for Taylor, but they gave her the edgework and ability that allowed her to excel in a coed hockey league in Louisville. Her grandfather quickly realized if his granddaughter wanted to progress in the sport, she would have to leave Kentucky.

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New enrolled Taylor at Lovell Academy, where coach Caitrin Lonergan was impressed by her skating and athleticism but initially viewed her as a bottom-six player.

“In February of her eighth-grade year she was probably four or five on the team defense,” said Lonergan, who was a forward the for the U.S. Under-18 women’s team, Boston College, Clarkson University and Connecticut of the Premier Hockey Federation.

“And then, you slowly saw her creeping up to No. 3. And then, OK, she's creeping up to No. 2. And then, come March at our state tournament, she was one of the best players in the whole tournament. Then that summer, she kind of exploded. She grew a lot (5-foot-8, 130 pounds), started training more. Then she came back her sophomore year and was just a completely different player.”

Taylor has 64 points (13 goals, 51 assists) in 64 games for Lovell this season.

“We never thought that Chyna was going to be a 60-70-point player,” Lonergan said. “She actually just broke the school record for defenseman recently, she's the first defenseman at Lovell to hit 200 points in her career.”

Now, if Lovell’s teams are in a pinch, coaches ask Taylor to “turn your superpower on.”

“We call her confidence her superpower,” Lonergan said. “She’ll look at us on the bench, she smiles, and then the next shift, she’s the best player on the ice.”

It hasn’t been easy for Taylor. Being more than 1,000 miles away from home for the first time, coping with heavier academic demands and daily practices at Lovell was an adjustment.

“At school, I’ve become a better student,” she said. “But my first year, I did get homesick, and I still do a little bit, but being here has really changed my life and it’s been great.”

Taylor said she has support systems, including her family, teammates and coaches. She’s also received support from groups like the Black Girl Hockey Club.

The nonprofit group, whose mission is to inspire passion for hockey within the Black community, specially among Black women, awarded her a $3,000 scholarship, which her family used to help pay tuition at Lovell.

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Taylor also received a $1,000 equipment grant from Bauer Hockey and grants and scholarships from the Lindsey Vonn Foundation, Women’s Sports Foundation, the Ritchie Hockey Foundation and the Black Bear Youth Hockey Foundation.

"It's been amazing to watch Chyna on her hockey journey these past few years, and Black Girl Hockey Club is so proud to be part of her story,” Black Girl Hockey Club founder and executive director Renee Hess said. “I am looking forward to watching Chyna thrive on Team USA as she continues to show her incredible skill, hard work, and dedication to the game."

The support for Taylor goes beyond financial. She said Saroya Tinker, co-founder of Black Girl Hockey Club Canada and a former defenseman for Toronto of the former Premier Hockey Federation, is a role model.

She also takes inspiration from Sophie Jaques, a defenseman for Minnesota of the Professional Women’s Hockey League, who became the first Black woman to win the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award as the NCAA Division I’s top hockey player in 2023.

“She’s another Black female representing,” Taylor said.

Taylor said she was thrilled when she met University of Wisconsin forward Laila Edwards on Aug. 8 at the 2024 USA Hockey Women’s National Festival in Lake Placid, New York.

Chyna Taylor and Laila Edwards

Edwards became the first Black player to play for the U.S. women’s national team when it faced Canada in the 2023-24 Rivalry Series.

“I think she watched one of our scrimmages for a little bit,” Taylor said of Edwards. “I got to talk to her for a little bit. She was telling me how, when she was younger, she went to a boarding school.”

Taylor said she’s especially proud to represent what’s possible for hockey players in her home state.

“I think that’s it's really cool that, like, when I go back home, there's a bunch of girls from Kentucky who look up to me,” she said.

Norton and Lonergan believe if Taylor continues her current trajectory, she will be representing the U.S. in the Olympics someday.

“I do because I think part of it is, yes, talent, but part of it is her work ethic,” Norton said. “Part of it is her compete. Part of it is how even keeled she is, she doesn't let things rattle her, and that she wants to be great.

“She’s committed. I think all of those things add up to a really, really nice package.”