Pens Elite Product Chayla Edwards Wins NCAA National Championship

The above photo is credited to Robert Frank.
The University of Wisconsin women's ice hockey team recently won the NCAA National Championship after defeating Northeastern in overtime, 2-1, on March 20.
Among the victorious Badgers is sophomore Chayla Edwards, who spent six years playing for the DICK'S Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Penguins Elite program while attending Shadyside Academy.

And Edwards, a defender whose play this season earned her a spot on the WCHA All-Tournament team, was actually on the ice for the Badgers' game-winning overtime goal - which Badgers forward Daryl Watts banked in off a blueliner from behind the net.
"I just remember pure excitement," Edwards said of that moment. "I remember before the game I was thinking I would do anything to win. And so at first, I was confused, because it was such a weird shot. And then I saw people celebrating, and I'm like, 'Oh my gosh. We just won. This is insane.' Our whole team kind of felt it coming because we were playing so well, so for it to actually happen is really rewarding for all of us."
While this is Edwards' first championship win, the Badgers - the 2019 victors - are now back-to-back national champions, with the 2020 NCAA tournament getting cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It's also the sixth title for Wisconsin head coach Mark Johnson, a former Badger, Penguins player and a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team that pulled off the Miracle on Ice.
"We all knew last year how devastating it was to get shut down right before the tournament," Edwards said of her freshman year. "This year we wanted to do it for last year's seniors, who would give anything to be here right now, and for all the former Badgers who have never won a championship."
And as disappointing as last year was for hockey players across the NCAA, Edwards said they learned a lot about appreciating the sport, and that you cannot take "anything, any moment, any game for granted."
"It made us appreciate the game and playing this year even more than we already do," she said.

In fact, Edwards shared that the resiliency her team had to show throughout the past year brought them even closer.
"There's was just something that shifted, and we all got really close," she said. "And going to the tournament, we spent a week together in the hotel. It was definitely a special feeling. And then afterwards, to see what we accomplished with each other, it was a great sense of pride to do that with a group of friends and family."
That group included teammate and fellow former Penguins Elite player Lacey Eden, a freshman who joined the team midway through the season. Edwards and Eden were one of nine Penguins Elite alumni playing in the NCAA tournament.
They were joined by goaltender Gwyneth Philips (Northeastern); Anjelica Diffendal and Ellie Marcovsky (Robert Morris), Kaitlyn O'Donohoe and twin sisters Delani and Eleri Mackay (Colgate); and Olivia O'Brien (Boston College).
"It's definitely special," Edwards said. "We do keep in touch a little bit, because most of us played together. Even last year when we went to Pittsburgh and played there for
the Battle at the Burgh tournament
, some other teams had someone who was on Pens Elite, and we got to skate with a little girl who did play for the program at that time. To see the impact we have on them, and all the Pens girls now, it was definitely really special to see that.
"And then this year, going to the Frozen Four and being in the tournament with all of those players, it just really shows how special Pens Elite is - that in all these amazing teams, you have players who come came from the Pens Elite. So I think it speaks to how well the Pens prepared us for college. It's pretty cool."