Laila Edwards (born January 25, 2004) is an American college ice hockey player for the University of Wisconsin and a member of the United States women’s national ice hockey team. She has won two World Championship medals, including gold at the 2025 World Championship and silver at the 2024 World Championship, where she was named Tournament MVP at age 20, becoming the youngest player to receive the honor.
Edwards made history in 2023 as the first Black woman to play for the U.S. women’s senior national team. She is also the first Black woman to score a goal for Team USA at the 2024 World Championships and at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
At the collegiate level, Edwards has won two NCAA national championships with the Wisconsin Badgers (2023 and 2025). She was a Patty Kazmaier Award top-three finalist in 2025 and led the nation with 35 goals during her junior season. Edwards won the Bob Allen Women’s Player of the Year Award in 2024.
Early life: Born in Cleveland Heights, Ohio to Charone Gray-Edwards and Robert Edwards, Laila was raised in Cleveland Heights with her siblings: older brother Robert (Bobby), older sister Chayla, younger brother Colson, and sister Britney Gray.
Edwards began figure skating at age three before switching to ice hockey at age four or five. Her father enrolled her and three of her siblings in the Cleveland Heights Youth Hockey Program. By age eight, she was traveling to out-of-state tournaments and played AAA hockey with boys’ teams, including the Cleveland Jr. Lumberjacks and Cleveland Barons. She also participated in the Pittsburgh Penguins Elite Girls hockey program.
Edwards left Cleveland Heights at age 13 to attend Bishop Kearney High School in Rochester, New York, for its elite girls’ hockey program. During the 2021–22 season, she recorded 38 goals and 59 assists for the under-19 team at Bishop Kearney. She finished her career at Bishop Kearney with 147 goals and 266 assists in 287 games from 2018 to 2022. She skipped her high school graduation ceremony to compete at the 2022 IIHF World Women’s U18 Championship.