Abby Roque has spent most of her 17 years playing hockey with and against boys.

Those experiences — plus being the daughter of a former college hockey coach and current National Hockey League scout — have helped shape her approach to the game.

Roque is considered both an intelligent and physical player, and she’s had to be in order to survive and thrive.

She began skating as a little girl on their backyard rink in the winter, and she’d sometimes go with her dad to his practices and watch him coach.

“Just growing up with him, you know what you should and shouldn’t do on the ice,” she said. “Also, just playing boys’ hockey, it’s a different game and I think it turned me into a smart player. When I wasn’t as fast, I had to make plays.”

Says Abby of her dad, Jim Roque, now a pro scout for the Arizona Coyotes: “He understands the game better than anyone I know. He helps me out with everything.”

Meanwhile, she’s a junior in her third season as the only girl on the Sault Area High School boys’ team in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.

She’s been a major contributor, playing center and averaging more than a point per game. She’s helped her team reach the Michigan state finals in division three the past two seasons.

Though she’s not as big as many of her opponents at 5-foot-6, she says she can “hold my own.”

“After playing with the guys for so long, I think I know how to use my positioning,” she said. “I’m not as strong as them, but if you use your body the right way you can for sure take the puck from them and get them off the puck.”

Plus, she has a formula for dealing with players who try to bully her on the ice.

“Be physical back,” she said. “Don’t take anything.”

It’s that quality — plus her talent and hockey smarts — that have earned her a spot on the U.S. team that will play in the 2015 IIHF U18 Women's World Championship in Buffalo, N.Y., beginning Jan. 5.

“Abby’s definitely a hockey player and she has that background,” said U.S. U18 coach Joel Johnson. “She comes from a hockey family and she is one of those rink rats, if you will. She is always around the puck, has great instincts for the game, and does a lot of little things that most people don’t notice. Things like winning faceoffs, and being very tough in front of the net, just a very hard-nosed player who has a knack for being in the play all the time.

“She can be feisty and play with a good chip on her shoulder when we need it. Like I said, she’s just a rink rat. She’s one of those players that you always want to have on your team.”

Roque has attended USA Hockey camps for four years, but 2014 has been her first year on the U.S. U18 team. She was on the U.S. team earlier this year that finished second to Canada in the U18 world championship in Hungary. She also played in the three-game series vs. Canada in Alberta. The U.S. won the final game after losing the first two.

She sees this team in Buffalo as capable of getting past Canada and winning a gold medal.

“I think we’re really fast,” she said. “We have the smarts to beat Canada, and the skill. I think if we work our hardest — if we’re a hard-working team — we’ll can beat them or any other team.”

She takes very seriously the fact that she needs to be a leader. She’s one of several players with at least one world championship experience.

“We want to go out there and help all the younger girls and make sure nobody’s nervous, because they all belong to this team,” she said. “They’ve all earned this opportunity.”

Reagan Carey, director of the women’s national program for USA Hockey, certainly views Roque as someone who can help the Americans break Canada’s streak of three straight U18 world championships.

“She’s got a lot of skills and a lot of grit as well,” said Carey. “Certainly she’s an aggressive player, and she can get in there and battle hard for us. We’re looking for her to do that, but also take the next step, to keep up with the pace of the international game and to really excel on all levels and be one of our leaders.”

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.