At 21, Laila Edwards is considered the future of the US women's hockey team

CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio (AP) — It was fajita night to celebrate Laila Edwards’ hockey homecoming when an excited shriek pierced the casual gathering in the brightly lit early 20th Century colonial she grew up in on a quiet, tree-lined street.

Four generations of the Edwards family turned to see a dumbstruck Laila and long-time friend and teammate Caroline Harvey huddled over a cell phone, breathlessly giggling, one “Oh, my God” after another.

There, for all the world to see, was a picture Cleveland Cavaliers forward Larry Nance Jr. had posted on social media of him arriving for an NBA game wearing Edwards' No. 10 U.S. hockey jersey.

“Whoa,” said Edwards, well-versed in the city’s sports history even though she long ago left Cleveland to pursue a career in hockey.

“He’s born in Ohio. His dad played for the Cavs. Legend,” Edwards said. “I thought it was super cool for him to do that, when he didn’t have to.”

A day later in November, Edwards hit the ice at the same downtown arena, where she took the ceremonial opening face off and had an assist in a 4-1 Rivalry Series win over Canada.

Soon enough, Nance might not be the only one hopping aboard the Edwards bandwagon as she prepares to make her Olympic debut at the Milan Cortina Games next month. She will become the first Black female to represent the U.S. at the Olympics in hockey, and at 6-foot-1 (185 centimeters) and 195 pounds (88 kilograms), she is an imposing defender with a rare combination of having a hard shot, speed and deft play-making ability.

“Laila is the future of the sport,” said Hilary Knight, team captain and the face of U.S. women’s hockey. “I think you’re seeing someone who’s coming into her skill set and just scratching the surface.”

Edwards is so highly regarded that USA Hockey made a point to play in Cleveland in what served as a coming out party for the player completing her senior college season at top-ranked Wisconsin. She is only 21.

It was a four-day visit with practices at a rink Edwards knew well when she was growing up. It was also a chance to reconnect with her family, who have watched much of her development from afar. Edwards left Cleveland to play for an elite girls team in Pittsburgh, and spent high school at the Bishop Kearney Selects Academy in Rochester, New York, before moving on to Wisconsin.

“The idea of going from a 400-seat rink to the biggest sporting event in the world, it’s like, wow,” Edwards said. “It feels like a full-circle moment to be starting the launch of my Olympic career here in Cleveland with my family.”

Edwards got into hockey at 3, courtesy of her father, Robert. Her older brother, Bobby, first played, and she was joined by older sister Chayla, who also played at Wisconsin.

She developed at such a rapid pace that by 11, coaches suggested Edwards begin playing with girls two- and three years older. That prompted the decision to have her play for more established developmental programs, including Kearney, which has produced numerous high-caliber players including fellow Olympic teammates in Harvey, Haley Winn, Kristen Simms and Ava McNaughton.

“We thought she was ready because she was mature for her age. She was very solid educationally,” Robert Edwards said.

“The thing that we didn’t expect was to miss her as much as we did, and the loss of not seeing her grow up,” he added. “I don’t regret doing that, but that is something that I feel was not the best part of her going away.”

Edwards faced her share of challenges away from home, too. There were growth spurts — some five inches at Kearney — and there were sacrifices, such as having to skip her graduation to compete at the Under-18 world championships.

And there was being a Black athlete in a sport predominantly played by white players.

“To get through some of the things you have to get through in this sport, you’ve got to be strong,” Edwards said.

“There’s a lot that goes on in the locker room, outside, coaches, practice, fans,” she added, declining to go into details. “You definitely have to be strong. And I think it’s huge in terms of representation and being a role model.”

Little has fazed Edwards, a quality U.S. coach John Wroblewski called the player’s strength in whatever she's faced, including making the switch from forward to defender.

“She’s an inspiring person to be around,” Wroblewski said. “I think it’s just innate. It’s just Laila. She’s a gamer. She’s the real deal.”

In her U.S. national team debut at forward, Edwards was named MVP at the 2024 world championships in which the Americans lost the gold medal game to Canada. At worlds this past year, Edwards struggled making the transition to defense, though she still finished with a goal and three assists and won gold.

“I didn’t have my best tournament, but to me that wasn’t what it was all about. We won, and I learned a lot, so that was a win as well,” she said. “I think my expectations are a little higher now.”

Edwards has thrived on adversity.

“The word ‘challenge’ is fine because I don’t look at it as a negative. I see it as something that I can learn from,” she said. “So I’m always trying to push myself to be a great athlete and player. But more importantly, a good person, role model, teammate.”

Edwards sat squeezed between her two parents on a couch in the family’s den. In the living room, bookshelves displayed numerous plaques, trophies and medals she's won, with many more likely to come.

The future, however, could wait. On this night, what mattered to Robert and Charone Gray-Edwards was enjoying a few precious moments with their suddenly grown-up daughter set to step onto the world stage.

“We tell her we love her regardless. You’re not going to be perfect. You’re not always going to win. You’re not always going to be the top scorer,” Charone said. “But you’re always our Laila.”

AP Olympic coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Laila Edwards, left, the first Black woman to suit up for Team USA women's Olympic hockey, teammate Caroline Harvey, center, and Laila's nephew Shiloh Stewart, right, talk during a family dinner at her childhood home in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

FILE - US's Taylor Heise (27), Lacey Eden (7), Laila Edwards (10) Caroline Harvey (4) and Haley Winn (8) celebrate with teammates after the US defeated Canada in a Rivalry Series women's hockey game Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)

Laila Edwards, center, the first Black woman to suit up for Team USA women's Olympic hockey, poses for a photo with her parents, Charone Gray-Edwards, left, and Robert Edwards, right, in her childhood home in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Laila Edwards, the first Black woman to suit up for Team USA women's Olympic hockey, is pictured during an interview following practice in a rink where she played youth hockey in the past, in Strongsville, Ohio, Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Laila Edwards, the first Black woman to suit up for Team USA women's Olympic hockey, participates in a practice, in a rink where she played youth hockey in the past, in Strongsville, Ohio, Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — A glove containing DNA found a couple of miles from the Arizona home of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie ’s missing mother appears to match those worn by a masked person outside her house the night she disappeared, the FBI said Sunday.

The development comes as law enforcement gathers more potential evidence in the search for Nancy Guthrie, 84, which heads into its third week.

Nancy Guthrie was last seen at her Tucson home on Jan. 31 and was reported missing the following day. Authorities say her blood was found on the front porch. Purported ransom notes were sent to news outlets, but two deadlines for paying have passed.

Authorities have expressed concern about Nancy Guthrie’s health because she needs vital daily medicine. She is said to have a pacemaker and have dealt with high blood pressure and heart issues, according to sheriff’s dispatcher audio on broadcastify.com.

Here's what to know about her disappearance and the search to find her:

The FBI on Tuesday released surveillance videos of a person wearing a handgun holster outside Guthrie’s front door the night she vanished. A porch camera recorded video of the person with a backpack who was wearing a ski mask, long pants, jacket and gloves.

On Thursday, the FBI called the person a suspect. It described him as a man about 5 feet, 9 inches (1.75 meters) tall with a medium build. The agency said he was carrying a 25-liter “Ozark Trail Hiker Pack” backpack.

On Sunday, the FBI said in a statement that a glove, found in a field near the side of a road about 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) from the home, had been sent off for DNA testing. The agency said that it received preliminary results Saturday and was awaiting official confirmation.

Late Friday, law enforcement agents sealed off a road about two miles (3.2 kilometers) from Guthrie’s home as part of their investigation. A series of sheriff’s and FBI vehicles, including forensics vehicles, passed through the roadblock.

Investigators also tagged and towed a Range Rover SUV from a nearby restaurant parking lot. The Pima County Sheriff’s Department said the activity was part of the Guthrie investigation.

Investigators collected DNA from Guthrie’s property which doesn’t belong to Guthrie or those in close contact with her, the sheriff's department said. Investigators are working to identify who it belongs to.

Evidence requiring forensic analysis is being sent to the same out-of-state lab that has been used since the beginning of the case, the department said.

The FBI has said approximately 16 gloves were found in various spots near the house, most of which were searchers’ gloves that had been discarded.

The Pima County sheriff and the FBI announced phone numbers and a website to offer tips. Several hundred detectives and agents have been assigned to the case, the sheriff’s department said.

The FBI said it has collected more than 13,000 tips since Feb. 1. The sheriff’s department, meanwhile, said it has taken at least 18,000 calls.

The sheriff’s department has not said whether any tips have advanced the investigation.

On Tuesday, sheriff deputies detained a person for questioning during a traffic stop south of Tucson. Authorities didn’t say what led them to stop the man but confirmed he was released.

The same day, deputies and FBI agents conducted a court-authorized search in Rio Rico, about an hour's drive south of the city.

Savannah Guthrie, her sister and her brother have gone on social media and shared multiple video messages to their mother’s purported captor.

The family’s Instagram videos have shifted in tone from impassioned pleas to whoever may have their mom, saying they want to talk and are even willing to pay a ransom, to bleaker and more desperate requests for the public’s help. A video on Thursday was simply a home video of their mother and a promise to “never give up on her.”

And on Sunday night, Savannah Guthrie posted an Instagram video in which she issued an appeal to whoever abducted her mother or anyone who knows where she is being kept. “It is never too late to do the right thing,” Guthrie said. “And we are here. And we believe in the essential goodness of every human being, that it’s never too late.”

Nancy Guthrie lived alone in the upscale Catalina Foothills neighborhood, where houses are spaced far apart and set back from the street by long driveways, gates and dense desert vegetation.

Savannah Guthrie grew up in Tucson, graduated from the University of Arizona and once worked at a television station in the city, where her parents settled in the 1970s. She joined “Today” in 2011.

In a video, she described her mother as a “loving woman of goodness and light.”

She has credited her mom with holding their family together after her father died of a heart attack in 1988 at age 49, when Savannah Guthrie — the youngest of three siblings — was just 16.

A person places flowers in front of Nancy Guthrie’s home in Tucson, Ariz., on Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Ty ONeil)