Hilary Knight: The Standard-Bearer for Milano Cortina 2026
Hilary Atwood Knight was born July 12, 1989, in Palo Alto, California, and grew up into one of the most decorated forwards in U.S. women’s hockey history. A four-time Olympian (2010, 2014, 2018, 2022), she owns Olympic gold from PyeongChang 2018 and silver medals from Vancouver 2010, Sochi 2014, and Beijing 2022.
Beyond the Games, Knight has been a fixture at the IIHF Women’s World Championship. She captained the U.S. to a classic win over Canada in 2023 with a title-clinching hat trick and was named tournament MVP, then led the group again in 2024 (a 6–5 overtime loss to Canada in Utica) before the Americans roared back to reclaim gold in 2025 on Tessa Janecke’s OT winner. Taken together, the run underscored the U.S.–Canada rivalry and Knight’s central role in it.
Women’s ice hockey at the 2026 Winter Olympics will run across 18 days at Milan’s Rho and Santagiulia arenas. USA Hockey’s published schedule framework already places the women’s medal games at the Santagiulia arena, though local organizers are still racing to finish that venue with test events slated less than a month before the Opening Ceremony. For Knight and Team USA, that means adapting quickly to a fresh Olympic environment while leaning on a veteran core that has lived through every iteration of this rivalry.
However 2026 plays out, Knight’s influence extends beyond medals: she’s helped normalize packed arenas, national-TV windows, and a thriving pro league for the next generation. That’s the future she’s been skating toward, one where a U.S. captain chasing gold at 36 is also handing a bigger stage to the players who will follow.
