Sault Ste. Marie — An entire community is cheering on USA Women’s Hockey Center Abby Roque. Roque who grew up in Sault Ste. Marie is being celebrated as she represents America at the Winter Olympics in Beijing. But Roque not only represents her home country, she is also making history as the first indigenous women’s hockey player to make Team USA. Roque is a member of the Wahnapitae First Nation, a tribe based in Northern Ontario that is also part of the Ojibwe First Nation.
Her inclusion on the national team has hometown brimming with pride. Throughout the city, signs celebrating her accomplishment can be found in windows of storefronts, homes and words of encouragement across the entire front counter at the Chippewa County Credit Union in the Soo.
For Roque, not only is she being celebrated in the Soo, but she also graces the cover of Sports Illustrated Beijing Olympics Preview. But this is not the first taste of the limelight for this Michigan sports icon. Roque led the Wisconsin Badgers to the 2019 hockey national championship.
No matter what happens in Beijing, it is clear from the support of the City of Sault Ste. Marie that Abby Roque will forever be remembered for both her history setting and hockey greatness.
