Earlier this year, Koelzer was recognized as one of the nation’s best offensive defenders, earning first team all-American honors and a spot on the United States under-22 team. According to U.S.A. Hockey, an African-American player has yet to make the women’s senior national team.

Nurse, also a senior, is a lethal scorer, and she led the top-ranked Badgers in points entering this weekend’s games. She has already competed in the Four Nations Cup with the Canadian national team and was an alternate captain of the developmental team last summer, when she played against Koelzer. Both hope to eventually compete at the Olympics.

John Sanful, the executive director of Ice Hockey in Harlem, said it was “incredibly important” that children from minority groups are able to “see people on the ice who look like them,” particularly at such high levels of competition. Over the summer, girls from his program were assigned to report on an influential figure in their lives, and one chose Koelzer, writing, “I like that she’s a black female that wanted to be a hockey player and she achieved her goal.”

For some players, hockey rinks can occasionally be uninviting. Tarasai Karega, who won a Division III national title at Amherst in 2009, started playing when she saw the film “The Mighty Ducks,” influenced by the character Jesse, the only black player portrayed on the team. Karega said that even entering a rink now can feel unsettling.

“It’s tangible that people stare at you like a U.F.O. just landed on Earth,” Karega said. “They’ll speak to you in mannerisms or talk about proper English.”

Karega stressed the importance of the emergence of players like Koelzer and Nurse, to continue raising awareness that hockey is not an exclusive sport.