Hilary Knight Reflects On ‘Wild Ride’ Following Olympic Hockey Gold
The five-time Olympian was the keynote speaker at U.S. Soccer’s SheBelieves Summit presented by Deloitte in Seattle
SEATTLE, Wash. – White bread with cheese and onions.
That’s the go-to sandwich order for women’s hockey great Hilary Knight. As one of the most decorated and renowned athletes in American sports, Knight’s food palette is equally unbelievable, according to her club teammates.
“The greatest thing to ever happen to her this year was the creation of the 12 grams of protein Uncrustable,” professional hockey player Emily Brown said. “That has been life-changing for her. And that says a lot because she did win an Olympic gold medal in February.”
Knight headlined the 2026 SheBelieves Summit presented by Deloitte on April 15. The event is U.S. Soccer’s premier leadership platform designed to connect and inspire the next generation of women leaders.
The 36-year-old certainly fits the bill as both an inspiration and a leader. Recently named one of TIME Magazine’s Most Influential People, Knight has built an illustrious resume in hockey, collecting five Olympic medals and 10 medals in the IIHF World Women's Championship, the most of any women’s hockey player.
Many know her for her most recent success at the Olympic Winter Games in Milano Cortina. Nicknamed “Captain America” by teammates, she captained Team USA on its way to an epic rally and overtime win over rival Canada to capture the gold medal in women’s ice hockey on February 19.
“It's a wild experience trying to make Team USA,” Knight said. “It's a really hard roster to make, and a lot of people have a hand in getting you there. So, when you go through these obstacles together, and you figure out how to problem solve on the fly, you get strength from that. When you have that kind of love and deep, deep trust in one another, anything can happen in the best way possible.”
Fresh off playing a league match in Vancouver the night before, Knight described the journey after winning gold as “the wildest ride imaginable” on stage in Seattle. She helped deliver the opening monologue on Saturday Night Live, appeared on the Tonight Show withJimmy Fallon and traded her skates for high heels to attend the Academy Awards. Yet, Knight said there’s one post-Olympics experience that stands above the rest.
“What's so cool and unique now is after the Olympic Games, we get to play in a professional season and return to that,” said Knight. “These guys have been grinding their butts off when the Olympians have been gone, and then to come back and pick up where we left off has been great.”
That’s a fresh feeling for women’s hockey players, and one that Knight and her peers cherish. The Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) was founded just three years ago in 2023 and played its inaugural season in 2024 while seeing tremendous success in its early years.
In the history of women’s sports in the United States, what oftentimes followed global glory was a lack of infrastructure at home or no professional domestic league in existence to continue the winning momentum – a situation that legendary 99er and Knight’s keynote moderator Julie Foudy can attest to. Gaps in between major international tournaments saw women turn to semi-professional leagues like the USL W-League or overseas to places like Sweden as outlets to stay sharp and continue their passion on the pitch.
That’s different now. Today, women’s sports have never been more supported, more visible, more accessible, and with more dollars behind it. As a result, professional women’s leagues are thriving. Soccer has the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), which is now in its 14th season and growing with two expansion clubs – Boston Legacy and Denver Summit – playing their inaugural seasons this year.
Bay FC set a new attendance record in August 2025 at Oracle Park with 40,091 fans, the largest crowd for a women’s professional soccer match in the U.S. That milestone was soon surpassed seven months later when a whopping 63,004 fans showed up for Denver’s home debut against the Washington Spirit at Empower Field at Mile High Stadium in March 2026.
Women’s hockey has pulled strong turnouts, too. On April 4, the first-ever women’s hockey game at Madison Square Garden was a sellout. The event, which featured a matchup between the New York Sirens and Knight’s Seattle Torrent, set a new U.S. attendance record for the sport with more than 18,000 fans reported.
“It’s an electric feeling whenever you can realize your dreams,” Knight said. “For so long, we knew [that] we were capable of selling out these awesome venues. It's just we had that disconnect. To finally have a league, the structure and the facility behind us, to be able to prop us up and take those big moments by storm, it’s so incredible.”
Knight said that in response to the Olympic Games, registration for women’s hockey in the U.S. has continuously increased. The five-time Olympian noted a huge bump in youth interest and participation since the PWHL’s formation.
“Seeing all these younger faces in the stands who understand that now they have a career path that they get to see their dream out and also get paid a livable wage while doing it is pretty special,” Knight said. “I think that's only going to continue to deepen our player pools. Those are going to be the faces that we're going to see that are going to fill our skates someday.”
Much like women’s soccer, the U.S. Women’s National hockey team has a fierce rivalry with neighboring Canada. All eight Olympic gold medal games in the history of women’s ice hockey have been won by either Canada or the U.S. The rivalry runs deep, which makes this cycle's win and all the success that’s followed that much sweeter.
“The coolest thing was the level of conviction that we were going to win that game. It never wavered,” Knight said. “Regardless of how our play looked and how it unfolded, I felt like we got stronger throughout the game, and we carried that momentum. It was a true belief that, if not me, then her. When you have something like that in a room, you just have to bottle it up, because it's the most powerful thing ever.”
