100 years after Native American Clarence John “Taffy” Abel brought home silver in the 1924 Olympic Games in Chamonix, France, Abby Roque of Wahnapitae First Nation in northern Ontario emerged from the Sault ice to make her own Olympic debut, inspiring young women everywhere.
U.S. Women’s Hockey Olympian Roque moved to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan when she was just five-years-old.
Her father, Jim Roque, accepted a position with Lake Superior State University as head hockey coach. Out of love for winter sports and family, he constructed an ice rink in the backyard.
“Our older daughter used to figure skate but Abby really didn’t like figure skating,” mother Julia Roque said.
When Roque’s skating coach would ask what she wanted to work on that day, her reply would be, “The stuff at LSSU.” Her wish came true one Christmas.
“She asked for hockey skates that year,” Julia Roque said.
Roque’s aunt drew her name for gifts and bought the very thing she had spent her young life dreaming about.
“I was equally surprised,” Julia Roque admitted. “Abby immediately put her hockey skates on and went outside. She left all her other presents unwrapped. She never wore figure skates again. She was in first grade, and it was the first year we let her play.”
Roque tried out for spring league a couple months later.
“She played with the boys,” said Julia Roque.
Roque’s spent her Sault High Blue Devils hockey years scoring goals on boys.
“I am happy Abby is doing this,” former head coach of Sault Ste. Marie’s hockey program John Ferroni said when talking about the Olympics. “It is exciting for young girls. I see Abby as a frontrunner leading that charge.”
“She has always marched to the beat of her own drum,” Mother Julia Roque said. That beat was the unrhythmic sequence of hockey sticks hitting blue ice.
“It is hard to watch your daughter play boys hockey,” Mrs. Roque admitted. “She was never deterred, even some years when she didn’t make the travel team.”
Her hockey coach father typically strayed away from coaching his daughter.
“My husband would say, ‘Abby, just keep playing because it doesn’t matter what team you play for, and never complain,’” Julia Roque said.
That was exactly what she did. Roque took the game very seriously, but always had a great time playing. People sometimes asked why her father didn’t do more coaching.
“If he went in the backyard, it was always about fun,” Julia Roque replied.
On freezing days in the dead of winter, Roque and her friends would be in the backyard playing hockey.
“They’d be there until you pulled them off the ice,” Roque’s mother said. “I would make them lunch and they would eat it outside. Our place was the place where they would hangout.”
But come spring, all hockey gear had to be put away.
“Abby never played hockey all year round,” said her mother. “She played other sports. She was much better off being a multi-athlete than playing one sport. She played soccer, tennis and golf... a little bit of everything.”
Perhaps time away, accompanied by pure love for the game, only fueled Roque’s drive to work harder and do better next season. Eventually, she started travel leagues.
“She’s a rink rat,” coach Ferroni said. “While her dad was coaching at LSSU, she was with me. We would skate for two and half hours. Then, she would go home and play on that rink. She had it. You could see that she had it.”
Roque made the boys team as a freshman in high school.
“Two of her first years, we were in the state finals,” said Ferroni. “We were one of the best boy’s teams in the state and she was on it.”
Roque was also the first girl to play varsity hockey at Sault Area High School.
“I mainly used Roque as a center,” said Ferroni. “She is probably one of the best at faceoffs in the world. I know that is a big statement.”
Once Roque realized she had a real shot at playing college hockey, practice time grew more serious.
She eventually signed on with the University of Wisconsin.
“When she would come home from college, we would make that rink for her, even if it was for four days,” said Julia Roque. “They would play until three or four in the morning.”
The 2020 Wisconsin graduate served as alternate team captain during her senior year, having finished four seasons to be named the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) “2020 Player of the Year and U.S. College Hockey Online Division one 2020 Women’s Player of the Year.
“Abby is a very good competitor,” Badgers Assistant Coach Jackie Crum said about her former player. “She has a drive unlike all but a few people I've seen come through the program.”
According to the USA Hockey website, Roque has twice earned a spot on the U.S. Women's National Team for International Ice Hockey Federation Women's World Championship tournaments in 2020 and 2021.
Roque played 36 games over the 2019, 2020 season to help lead the Badgers, achieving a WCHA regular season title. She scored a record high of 58 points, ranking her top-10 in the country.
Crum described Roque’s dedication as hunger and thirst for the game.
“She's just so competitive, and it just runs deep within her,” said Crum. “Her skill level and love for the game is what got her to where she is today for sure.”
This week, the 24-year-old Sault Ste. Marie native departs for Bejing to compete in the XXIV Olympic Winter Games.
