Color of Hockey: Ng raising game for Wilkes, Hong Kong women's teams

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 Asian & Pacific Islander Heritage month, he profiles Renee Ng, a forward with Hong Kong Women’s National Team and NCAA Division III Wilkes University. She led the IIHF Women’s World Championship Division II, Group B in goals and helped Hong Kong win the gold medal at the March 30-April 5 tournament.

Renee Ng said she was destined to be a hockey player.

Her father, Kin Ng, has coached or managed Hong Kong’s women’s and men’s national teams and her mother, Cassie Chung, played on their national squads.

“I was 1 1/2 when I started skating, but I started taking hockey seriously at seven or eight,” Ng said. “I was bound to play.”

The 19-year-old forward is a player on the rise internationally and in the NCAA after her performances at the 2026 IIHF Women’s World Championship Division II, Group B, last month and at Wilkes University, a Division III school, this season.

Ng led the six-nation worlds with seven goals and tied for second in points (10) in five games, highlighted by a natural hat trick in the second period of a 3-1 win against Ukraine on April 3.

Her scoring prowess at the March 30-April 5 tournament helped host Hong Kong win the gold medal and earn a promotion to IIHF Division II, Group A for 2027. 

“I think everyone was really happy that we won and that it showed that Hong Kong is better than what we seem to be,” Ng said. “We placed fifth last year and placing first this year was great, especially in front of the home crowd. The crowd was going crazy, and the building was very loud and playing in front of all my friends and family made it very special.”

Ng has 27 points (18 goals, 9 assists) in 20 IIHF games. She won gold with Hong Kong at the 2023 women’s worlds Division III, Group A and bronze at the 2024 Division II, Group B tournament.

She was selected by coaches as Hong Kong’s best player in three of their past four tournament appearances.

Ng also thrived with Wilkes, a private university with 5,300 undergraduate and graduate students in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

A sophomore, she was second on Wilkes with 19 goals, tied for third in points (27) and tied for first in game-winning goals (five) with Nina Hudakova in 28 games this season. She has 52 points (27 goals, 25 assists) in 52 NCAA Division III games over the past two seasons.

“I think I'm a two-way player that likes to encourage my team and have fun on the ice and foster a good, positive community around the team,” said Ng, whose favorite NHL player is Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby. “And I think I like to use my skills and my speed to help attack and score goals.”

Wilkes went 25-2-1 this season and 20-1-0 in Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) play. The team won its second consecutive MAC championship and advanced to the NCAA Division III women’s championship, where it lost 2-1 in overtime to Nazareth University in the quarterfinal round.

Ng is poised to take her game to the Division I level next season. She’s committed to play with Lindenwood University, a program in Saint Charles, Missouri.

After playing youth hockey in Hong Kong, she arrived in North America in 2022-23 to play at Mount Academy, a prep school in North Rustico, Prince Edward Island, 7,722 miles from the bright lights and skyscrapers of her hometown of 7.2 million people.

“It was a big adjustment because there’s really nothing there,” she said. “I had to learn how to live independently, especially with COVID as well. I wasn't able to go home over Christmastime, over breaks, because quarantine there was 14 days to get back in Hong Kong.”

Ng had 21 points (13 goals, eight assists) in 47 games with Mount Academy’s Under-19 women’s teams from 2022-24 and was looking for the next step in her hockey career.

Wilkes coach Dave LaBaff spotted her in 2023-24 at a player showcase in Providence, Rhode Island, that he almost didn’t make because of a major snowstorm.

“I saw her play a couple of games and I was really impressed and I was convinced that she was probably committed to a Division I school or a really high-end U Sports school in Canada,” LaBaff said. “I think it was her level of skill. I know that probably sounds like a very generic answer, but it’s her edge work, her ability to handle the puck, her speed.

“Renee said growing up in Hong Kong, there wasn't a lot of organized games or organized teams, and she just did skill work for years and years and years. And that's kind of where she developed this high level of skill that she can bring over into games.”

After LaBaff learned from one of his players at the time that Ng hadn't committed to any school, he left Providence thanking the blizzard he cursed on the way there.

“I was in a rental car that certainly was not cut out for the snow,” he said. “I think I paid my dues on that one, but something good came out of it. We were really lucky that she decided to come here.”

Ng said playing NCAA women’s hockey was an adjustment from high school and Hong Kong.

“I feel like a lot more people were a lot more physical," she said, "and the speed was so much faster, and the execution of team plays and passes were a lot faster, and execution rate was higher which made it more fun and more organized.”

She said U.S. college hockey has improved her game on the international level.

“I think playing for Wilkes helped me be faster and compete at a higher level and have more competitiveness within the team,” she said. “I could translate that and bring that kind of competitiveness back to Hong Kong and push and hopefully make everyone else around me better in a way, so that they can get ready to play against bigger, stronger opponents as well.”

Ng hopes to go on to medical school after earning an undergraduate degree in nursing, but said she’s focused now on going as far as hockey can take her.

“Obviously hockey is not forever, but I still want to try playing overseas professionally for as long as I can, play at the highest level and know my potential,” she said.