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"It was all worth it," she said. "I'm glad I did it." Cari Coen, the director of girls hockey for BK Selects, said Edwards had a relentless work ethic in New York. The daily morning skate came before school, practice, a team workout and study session. "There's so many hours that she's put into her game that, like other players just like her on that national level, it just goes unseen," Coen said. Edwards has an appreciation and a fondness for those early hours on the ice and the coaches, team- mates, family members and fam- ily members of teammates who saw something special in her and helped her develop. The player that she has become is able to control the pace of a game with an intellectual approach. Coaches and observers said her ability to slow the game down and speed it up whenever she wants is uncanny. Combine that with vision, a good read on situations and physical skills to go along with a 6-foot-1 frame and you get an opportunity for offense. You also get someone who can make others take notice. "She walks in a room and there's presence," Paul Colontino, the vice president of hockey administration for BK Selects, said. "She hops the boards, there's presence. She's in a locker room and she can be very soft-spoken, and when she speaks up it hits like a 10-pound hammer." It all came together in helping Wisconsin win the 2023 NCAA championship, an effort she furthered with a determined shift in the semifinals against Minnesota that led to her scoring a momentum- turning goal. She's back for more this season with the Badgers, but she's also getting into international play. Her minutes were limited at the Rivalry Series, but Edwards made some plays that stood out to coach John Wroblewski, including a scoring chance that just missed the top corner. "That shows that you belong, and that doesn't happen for the major- ity of players, especially players in their first game," Wroblewski said. "It was an announcement that she belonged. She did some wonder- ful things without the puck, too. Her forechecking, her straight- ahead speed had a presence in that game." Edwards had a small cheer- ing section of family members and friends at the game and a larger group across the country that acknowledged that she was a trail- blazer for Black players on the Women's National Team. She said she understands that significance for the sport in the U.S. but also is trying to keep in mind that it was the start of a new page of her story, one that she hopes to keep going with the national team. "I have to put it to the back of my head, put my head down and go to work," Edwards concluded. "Because this is a big deal to me. It's the U.S. team. It's something I've worked for forever and made a lot of sacrifices for, along with my family." P JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 USAHOCKEYMAGAZINE.COM // 41 p Laila Edwards is the first Black player to play for the U.S. Women's National Team after taking the ice during the 2023-24 Rivalry Series.