In late summer 2016, as Abby Roque entered her freshman year at Wisconsin, one of her new teammates made a fleeting comment that forever changed her perspective. As Roque recalls, “They were like, I think you’re the first Indigenous hockey player I’ve ever met. Maybe even the first Indigenous person.”
In addition to belonging to the roughly 570-member Wahnapitae First Nation, part of the Ojibwe First Nation based in northern Ontario, Roque grew up in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., where one of every 10 residents is Native American. She attended communal powwows and other ceremonies. She skated on a rink owned by a local tribe, sharing the ice with kids who shared her culture. “She went to school every day with kids from the reserve,” says her father, Jim. “She just assumed everyone did that.”
Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated
