Team USA’s women’s hockey squad has its eyes firmly set on gold at the 2026 Winter Olympics-looking to go one better than the silver finish in Beijing four years ago. But the impact of this team stretches far beyond the rink in Milan and Cortina. It’s inspiring a wave of young talent across the country, including right in the heart of North Texas.
That’s where you’ll find 16-year-old Angel Zerby, a rising defensewoman who’s already on USA Hockey’s radar. Zerby isn’t just dreaming about the Olympics-she’s putting in the kind of work that makes those dreams feel a little more real every day.
“I want to be at the highest level that I can be,” Zerby said. “It’s hard to lose. Honestly, sometimes it’s hard to win when you have to be mentally tough in every scenario.”
That’s not just talk. At an age when most kids are figuring out what sport they want to play, Zerby is already learning the kind of mental toughness it takes to compete at the national level. Her hockey journey started with a spark-a Dallas Stars game with her dad that lit the fire.
“I decided that I thought that it looked cool, and I wanted to try that. So ever since then, he put me in skates,” she said.
She laced up her first pair at 8 years old and was playing organized hockey by 9. By the time she was 10, she’d joined the Dallas Stars Elite, the top-tier traveling team in the region. That’s when she realized she wasn’t just playing a sport-she was carving out a path that looked a lot different from her peers.
“There’s not really enough girl competition here to have a big league,” Zerby explained. “I think there are only three girls’ teams in Texas.
There’s only one Tier One, which would be Dallas Stars Elite. So there’s not really enough for us to play other girls’ teams in Texas regularly.”
That lack of in-state competition hasn’t slowed her down. In fact, it’s probably sharpened her edge.
Zerby and her team have already made serious noise-winning regionals and earning trips to nationals. And her individual résumé is starting to stack up.
In 2024, she was selected for USA Hockey’s player development camp-an invitation-only event that brings together the best young talent from across the country. Zerby was one of just four defensewomen chosen from her multi-state region.
“That was a big deal for me. I was just super excited to go and do that,” she said.
She’s following in the footsteps of some serious talent that came out of the same Dallas Stars Elite program. Hannah Bilka, a Coppell native, is now skating professionally in the PWHL for Seattle and was part of the U.S. squad that won the World Championship in 2024. She’s also been named to Team USA’s Olympic roster for Milan-Cortina.
Then there’s Allyson Simpson from Frisco, another Dallas Stars Elite alum, who now plays for the New York Sirens in the PWHL. These are the names that paved the way-and Zerby’s aiming to be next.
“We can go at this and be scared, or we can go at this as a challenge and see what we can do,” she said.
Right now, she’s still playing alongside the boys, but that’s changing. The girls’ game is growing in Texas.
According to the Dallas Stars’ hockey programs, girls’ participation has jumped 18 percent year over year. Since 2013, more than 90 girls from North Texas have earned college scholarships through the Dallas Stars Elite system.
So while Team USA is chasing gold on the world stage, players like Angel Zerby are chasing something just as meaningful-building the future of women’s hockey one shift at a time.