Luisa Wilson
(Photo : Instagram/luisa_wilson_hockey)

In an interview with Mexico News Daily, Mexican ice hockey player Luisa Wilson is eyeing college hockey after she made history on January 15 by winning a gold medal at the Winter Youth Olympics. 

Wilson became the first Mexican to take home a medal at the Winter Youth Olympics after a landslide six to one victory against Team Black. 

The Mexican athlete played for the yellow team which was comprised of representatives from the Czech Republic, Korea, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. 

The girls played in Lausanne, Switzerland and slowly worked their way to the finals. 

January 15 saw the first half of the game where the Black team and the Yellow team were tied 1-1. Luisa scored a second goal in the second half. The opposing team never got a chance to recover, sealing the Yellow team's victory.

Luisa Wilson started playing ice hockey at the tender age of 3. She was taught by her father, Brian, who is a coach and hockey enthusiast, how to skate with a hockey stick in hand. 

She grew up being the only girl in Mexico's federation hockey.

Wilson almost quit hockey at the age of 8 after she found out girls weren't allowed to play in the National Hockey League (NHL) but decided against it after some cajoling from her father.

She played various rinks in Mexico City in hopes of finding a better coach and better facilities. Wilson earned her nickname "the pink assassin" after she would body-check the boys she played against while wearing her pink helmet. 

Luisa and her family moved to Canada, her father's hometown, in 2017 where hockey is recognized as a national sport. She went from playing 40 games a year to 60.

Her family enrolled her at Bill Crothers, a sports high school, where she played rugby which she says gave her more "killer instinct" on the ice. 

After tryouts for the Youth Olympics were announced in March 2019, Luisa and her family went back and forth between Mexico and Canada. Luisa got enormous support from her family and her school in her dream to play at the international level.

Wilson ranked 30th internationally and was placed on the yellow team with girls from other countries. 
"It was pretty cool, but at the beginning, it was kind of difficult to communicate with each other," she said. "We got close and we were like best friends in a week."

Following her win at the Winter Youth Olympics, Luisa went back home to Canada a celebrity. "I didn't think about it at the time, but now I realize that I am going down in the records as the first one to win a medal and it was gold, and that's cool," she said of her win. 

Luisa said she will focus on running and honing her crosscheck skills. When asked what her future might hold, she said she eyes playing the collegiate field and the Olympics as an adult someday. 

Another Mexican ice hockey player, Ximena Gonzalez, participated at this year's Winter Youth Olympics. Her team, Team Brown, came in fourth place. 

Other Mexican players included Alexander Daniel Valencia, Diego Rodriguez, Alejandro Fermin, and Melanie Hernandez.