Chyna Taylor Team USA's First From Kentucky

Kentucky and hockey aren't necessarily synonymous. But a new generation of hockey players will have the opportunity to see Kentucky's first hockey star step into the spotlight as Chyna Taylor suits up for Team USA at the U-18 World Championships.

Taylor is set to become the first member of Team USA, from a men's or women's team, from the state of Kentucky. Taylor grew up playing in a co-ed hockey league in Louisville, Kentucky.

When she reached high school, Taylor had to leave her state for stronger competition moving to Lovell Academy where she's been playing under the guidance of former NCAA and PHF standout, and PWHL Draft pick Caitrin Lonergan, who took over as head coach of the program. According to Lonergan, she has not seen an athlete like Taylor since her time skating the USA's senior national team. Specifically, Taylor's fitness sets her apart.

"She crushed out, I think, 80 pushups without having to stop, and she did multiple chinups, like the highest in the whole group, and her vertical jump was in the high 20s, which, for a female that age, I hadn't seen a vertical jump that high since I was, like, part of the national team," Lonergan told Kentucky's Courier Journal about Taylor.

"To see her development in two years, and to see how fast that she picked up some of the skill that she did, and, you know, just her hockey IQ, and how fast she is, and how she's able to make plays under pressure, and the confidence that she built in two years. I haven't seen a player, you know, from where Chyna was at to where she is (now) in two years grow like that at all," continued Lonergan.

USA will hope that progression from the summer series to the actual U-18 World Championships continues as well as they'll look to repeat as gold medalists against the heavily favoured Team Canada.

Taylor, 15, is one of USA's younger players as a 2009 born defender. This season with the Lovell Academy 16-U program, Taylor has scored 29 points in 39 games from the blueline.

USA opens their 2025 U-18 World Championships against Japan on January 4 in Finland.