Color of Hockey: Roque can make history on U.S. women's national team

William Douglas has been writing The Color of Hockey blog for the past nine years. Douglas joined NHL.com in March 2019 and writes about people of color in the sport. Today, he profiles forward Abby Roque, who's vying to become the first Indigenous woman to play for the United States women's national team in the Olympics.

Abby Roque has already won a prestigious award presented to some of women's hockey's best American players and she has been predicted to become one of the best players in the world.
Now she's waiting for something else -- to be called an Olympian.
The former University of Wisconsin forward is competing for a spot on the U.S. women's national team that will seek to defend its gold medal at the 2022 Beijing Olympics from Feb. 4-20.
If Roque is selected, the 24-year-old member of the Wahnapitae First Nation will be the first Indigenous woman to play for the U.S. women's national team in the Olympics.
The roster will be announced at the 2022 Discover NHL Winter Classic between the St. Louis Blues and Minnesota Wild (7 p.m. ET; TNT, SN1, TVAS, NHL LIVE) at Target Field on New Year's Day.
"It really does mean the world to me, and I hope to a lot of other people," Roque said. "I just think for visibility in the sport and to make sure that every Indigenous youth knows that they can make it in the sport, I think that's so cool and crucial to the sport. I just, hopefully, want to be the first so I'm definitely not the last."
Roque earned Olympic consideration after starring at Wisconsin and sparkling in her debut on the 2021 Professional Women's Hockey Players Association Dream Gap Tour.
The Sault St. Marie, Michigan, native scored 170 points (56 goals, 114 assists) in 155 games at Wisconsin from 2016-20, including 58 points (26 goals, 32 assists) in 36 games in her senior season.
Roque was named the 2020 Bob Allen Women's Hockey Player of the Year, an award presented by USA Hockey annually to the top American-born women's hockey player.
Past winners include Kendall Coyne Schofield, Hilary Knight, Maddie Rooney, Brianna Decker, Monique Lamoureux-Morando and Amanda Kessel.
Roque (pronounced "rock") was a top-three finalist for the 2020 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, presented annually to the top player in NCAA Division I women's hockey.

She was one of the most talked-about players on the PWHPA Dream Gap tour after she scored four points (two goals, two assists) in her professional debut Feb. 27, when she powered Team Minnesota to a 5-2 win against Team New Hampshire in Somerset, New Jersey.
Roque followed up that performance with a goal and assist the next day in a 4-3 loss to New Hampshire at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Afterward, forward Hilary Knight, a former Wisconsin standout who won one Olympic gold medal (2018) and two silver medals (2010, 2014) for the U.S., said Roque is "going to be the best player in the world ... plain and simple."
Jayna Hefford, the PWHPA's operations consultant and a 2018 Hockey Hall of Fame inductee, said Roque is "going to be around a long time on the women's hockey side of things and certainly with Team USA."
"She's got one of the quickest releases I've seen," said Hefford, a former forward who won four Olympic gold medals (2002, 2006, 2010, 2014) and one silver medal (1998) for Canada. "She doesn't appear to be a flashy player but she's in the right place at the right time and she's a goal-scorer. We all know that's nothing you teach. That's something you have or you don't."

Roque said such praise can create pressure, but it also can be a motivator.
"I think it's a little bit of both," she said. "But I think being able to just be confident in yourself and know that if people are believing in you, there's a reason so you should be able to reach those goals."
Roque got into hockey through her father, Jim Roque, a Canadian citizen who's a pro scout for the Toronto Maple Leafs and coached at Lake Superior State University from 2005-14.
"He was coaching my entire life and around the sport," Abby Roque said. "I kind of had to go watch games and be around the rink. And, naturally, after that it kind of turned into what it was, I wanted to be a hockey player, go to the rink, and be like his players."

She went on to play boys' hockey at Sault St. Marie High School from 2012-15 and was one of the few girls in Michigan to play on boys' teams. She credits the experience with honing her playing style.
"I think it made me the player, the person I am today," she said. "I had to be pretty tough to play physically with the boys, but also mentally. You get a lot of heat for playing boys hockey, you get a lot of people who don't think you can do it. So you have to be confident in yourself, know how good you are, know what you're capable of and keep on pushing."
Hockey has long been a staple in the Roque household. So, too, are the family's Indigenous roots.
Roque's uncle, Larry Roque, was elected chief of the Wahnapitae First Nation, an Ojibway First Nation band government, in Ontario earlier this year.
"Growing up, for me, I knew about my heritage, and I was proud of it," Abby Roque said. "I was pretty much always around Indigenous kids and I was around the culture. In high school I started to learn more and read more stories and learn more about the culture and what it really is."

Roque discovered at Wisconsin that many people haven't been exposed to the culture, which prompted her to delve deeper into her roots. She said she hopes her play will inspire others to do the same.
"The history of Indigenous people in America, the stories they've told, the beliefs and everything is so interesting and so awesome," she said. "It's definitely amazing to learn more about us. I just continue to read and learn from others."
Photos: USA Hockey; Tom Lynn, David Stluka, University of Wisconsin