U.S. women’s national team member, Laila Edwards, who was here this past week for the USA Hockey Women’s National Festival has already made historic achievements in her young hockey career. She earned another in May, when she was awarded the Bob Allen Player of the Year.

Last November, Edwards became the first-ever Black women to be named to the U.S. women’s national hockey team. Edwards said it’s a bit overwhelming bearing that title, but “in a good way.”

“It’s incredible to hopefully be a role model and set a standard and show someone that ‘If I can see it, I can be it,'” she said on Friday. “It’s a little cliche, but I think it’s true. If you see someone that looks like you, playing at the highest level, it’s motivating. I hope to motivate — anyone, honestly — but more specifically girls of color.”

Edwards isn’t just a role model to young girls hockey players, she’s a dominating forward for the U.S. Her Bob Allen Player of the Year award, which is named in honor of Lake Placid native Bob Allen, is given to one outstanding American-born woman’s hockey player.

Edwards, who is 20-years old and still in college, was the most outstanding women’s player this year despite being on the younger side of the U.S. women’s national team roster.

In her first-ever IIHF Women’s World Championship in April in Utica, Edwards dominated and was tied for the tournament lead in goals with six. She was named the MVP of the tournament, which she said was “cool and all,” but she was hoping to leave with a gold medal.

“I came there for one thing and it didn’t happen,” she said. “But the experience I had with that team was something, I’ll never ever trade for anything. Everyone on that team treated me with so much respect, they’re such great leaders, great coaches and I had the time of my life.”

She was the youngest non-goalie to ever be named world championship MVP and her play in Utica essentially earned her the Bob Allen award, which she said was an honor.

“If you look at the previous list of people that have won that award, to be among those names is just an honor and something I’m super grateful for,” she said. “It’s also showing that the work is still there to be put in. I’ve got a lot more to do.”

Edwards was 1-year-old when the title of the award was changed to honor Allen, who died in 2007.

Allen was the chairman of the gold medal-winning U.S. Women’s Olympic Ice Hockey Team in 1998. He was considered the godfather of U.S. Women’s Ice Hockey and was 2002 Olympic torch runner. He also worked for the town of North Elba for 25 years and managed the Olympic Center with the North Elba Park District from 1967 until his retirement in 1981. His son, Denny, replaced him in 1982.

Allen is a big part of why Lake Placid has hosted the USA Hockey Women’s National Festival nearly every year since the late 1990s — and most famously in 1998 when women’s hockey was added to Olympic Winter Games. The event was canceled in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic. In 2021, it was held in Blaine, Minnesota, and in 2022, it took place in Buffalo.

Edwards has taken part in Lake Placid hockey camps numerous times, but whenever she looks up at the Olympic Center’s 1980 Herb Brooks Arena, she still feels a sense of nostalgia.

She’s only 20, so her knowledge of the events that occurred here in 1980 are mostly from the 2004 Disney movie “Miracle.” But one name stands out to her — Mark Johnson.

Johnson, a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team, just so happens to Edwards’ hockey coach at the University of Wisconsin.

“He’s a great coach,” Edwards said. “We don’t have a very tight leash, he trusts us. He implements systems, but lets us play our game, which is incredible. He doesn’t over-do it he’s got a great balance and he’s got a lot in his brain to teach.”

At Wisconsin, Edwards helped lead her team to its 15th NCAA Frozen Four appearance as a sophomore. She recorded a career-high 56 points on 21 goals and 35 assists and had 17 multi-point games.

Edwards, who grew up in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, made hockey her number one priority when she was 13. She figure skated until she was 5, and having played boys hockey most of that time until she started attended a boarding school in Rochester.

While Edwards is starting to become more of a household name on the U.S. national team, she isn’t taking anything for granted and want to inspire more girls to play hockey.

“That’s one of my big motivators right now is inspiring more girls to get into hockey because it’s very male dominated,” she said. “I think the inspiration is kind of what’s lacking sometimes. (Hopefully I can) help with that inspiration get more girls into hockey. And other girls can get other girls (to play), kind of like a domino effect.”