Hilary Knight laughed when her brother first raised the idea of sticking around through the Milan-Cortina Olympics.
“Yeah, right,” Knight she said, recalling her reaction. “There’s no way.”
She was already north of 30 then — she turned 33 five months after the Beijing Games in 2022 — and had her hands full trying to get the PWHL off the ground. The idea of signing up for another four years of the grind seemed like a lot.
And yet, here she is preparing for Milan. It will be her fifth, and she’s announcing now, final Olympics.
“It’s time,” Knight told USA TODAY Sports. “I have grown up in this program and it’s just given me so much. I’m at peace. I just have this feeling that it’s time. And I’m grateful that — hopefully I can stay healthy and everything — I can go out when I’d like to be done. That is such a privilege that only a handful of competitors get.”
Knight, who turns 36 in July, is still one of the very best players in the world. At last month’s world championships, where the U.S. women beat archrival Canada for the title (Knight’s 10th, for those counting), she led the Americans with nine points. Already the career leader in points and goals at the world championships, she added the career assists record during the tournament, too.
Knight also was the PWHL’s points leader this season with 29, and her 15 goals for the Boston Fleet were second most in the league.
Impressive as Knight’s resume as a player is — in addition to the 10 world titles, she’s an Olympic champion (2018) and three-time silver medalist (2010, 2014 and 2022) — it is what she’s done off the ice that will be her greatest legacy.
The sport looks nothing like it did when Knight began playing. Heck, it barely resembles what it looked like five years ago.
The U.S. women’s team now receives similar benefits and treatment from USA Hockey as the men’s team because Knight and her teammates threatened to boycott the world championships in 2017. USA Hockey also agreed to improve its developmental program, which means little girls now have their own teams to play on.
The PWHL exists because Knight and the game’s other top players refused to accept the substandard professional leagues that existed previously in Canada and the United States. They staged their own “Dream Gap” tour in 2021 to spotlight the lack of professional opportunities for women and raise interest for a new league.
“You realized how much responsibility we just chewed off,” Knight said. “You’re just like, `Wow, I’m responsible for making sure this thing exists,’ and then to see it through and make sure that we can actually put the pieces together to find somebody who’s going to invest long-term in us.
“Sometimes you felt really defeated because you’re like, `I believe in this thing. I know what we’re capable of,’ but it’s convincing other people to see it, too, and have the same vision,” she said. “And fortunately, we were able to find that.”
In 2022, the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association, of which Knight was a founding board member, announced a deal with Los Angeles Dodgers owner Mark Walter and Billie Jean King for a new league.
The PWHL began play last year in six cities, and has already surpassed the 2 million mark in total attendance. It’s been so successful that two expansion teams will be added next season.
“I understood what the sport gave me and I wanted to give that to other people. I wanted other people to have the same opportunities that I had,” Knight said. “Obviously there’s tons of work that always needs to be done, but I think we now have a career path. Investments are now starting to happen more at the grassroots level. Girls are being invested in.
“Not only me, but all of us have changed that, and so I feel very fulfilled from that standpoint and hoping that those barriers are lesser and lesser as we move forward.”
Reflecting on her legacy is not high on Knight’s list of favorite things to do. Quite honestly, it’s nowhere on that list. That’s partly why she’s announcing now that these will be her last Games, in hopes it will no longer be a story in Milan. Or at least not a focal point.
Because Knight has never played hockey to shine up her legacy. Even all those titles, they have meaning because they’re a reflection of the work it took to get them and the people who played alongside her.
It’s those things that Knight will miss.
“There’s something to be said about the grind and the appreciation for putting the most vulnerable part of yourself on the line and working together as a group and navigating the highs and lows before a tournament and in a tournament,” she said. “Those are the memories that will, I think, pop up for me.”
That and the pranks.
Anyone who has ever been part of a team knows the shenanigans that go on when you spend that much time together. The prank calls to family members back in the States. The rubber bands that can turn bidet handles into super soakers. The cups of water left inside helmets when they’re sitting on a shelf.
“Just adding little moments of lightness because, at the end of the day, representing your country on a world stage is kind of stressful!” Knight said.
Knight still plans to play in the PWHL after Milan, but she knows that part of her career will soon end, too. She’s enjoyed the broadcasting work she’s done for ESPN and could see herself doing more of that.
She’d also like to put together a group of investors and buy an NHL team someday. (A PWHL team, too, but it’s still a single-owner league.)
“There’s just so much to be done and so many opportunities in the women’s space that are really exciting,” Knight said.
In part because of her and what she’s achieved, on and off the ice.
For now, though, there’s one more Olympics. One more time to represent Team USA. One more chance to win a title for her country.
“It took me a while, but I think I’m very much so at peace with it,” Knight said. “I’ve had an incredible career at the Olympic stage. And (in Milan) I will have the same mission and the same purpose, and that’s to win an Olympic gold.”
Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.