William Douglas has been writing The Color of Hockey blog since 2012. Douglas joined NHL.com in 2019 and writes about people of color in the sport. Today, he profiles Ailin Zheng, a 21-year-old skater for the U.S. Women’s National Sled Hockey Team that won a gold medal at the first World Para Ice Hockey Women’s Championship in Dolny Kubin, Slovakia in August.

Ailin Zheng is rapidly compiling “firsts.”

Zheng is a member of the U.S. Women’s National Sled Hockey Team that won the gold medal in the first World Para Ice Hockey Women’s Championship in Dolny Kubin, Slovakia, on Aug. 31. Before that, she made history by scoring the first goal at the inaugural Para Ice Hockey Women’s World Challenge in Green Bay, Wisconsin, in August 2022.

But the 21-year-old from Queens, New York, and her teamm

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