SAN JOSE — The best American player in women’s hockey had had enough.
Four years ago, Hilary Knight struggled to accept the United States’ defeat to Canada in the gold-medal game at the Sochi Olympics. The Americans had led 2-0 with four minutes left in regulation before losing in overtime.
After losing in two Olympic finals she reflected on whether it was worth another four-year grind to compete at the Pyeongchang Games that open Feb. 9 in South Korea.
The answer came six months after the Sochi Games in the arena where the Miracle on Ice happened in 1980. Knight was coaching kids at Lake Placid, New York, while the U.S. under-22 and under-18 teams trained.
She spent time watching the next generation push the puck across the ice, seeing their USA jerseys flutter in the wind.
“Those guys inspired me to come back,” Knight said. “I’m not done yet.”
Knight and her talented teammates have work to do to capture Olympic gold for the first time in 20 years after a 3-1 defeat to Canada on Friday night at SAP Center in an exhibition game in front of 6,098 fans.
Knight assisted on the United States’ only goal as Canada dominated in the final matchup of “The Time Is Now Tour.” The Americans play their eighth and final Olympic tune-up against Canada on Sunday in Edmonton, Alberta.
Knight probably will be in the center of whatever unfolds in Pyeongchang — the United States and Canada are scheduled to play Feb. 15 in a preliminary game in a loaded Group A that also includes Finland and the Russians. All four countries have reached the World Championships semifinals every time but twice since 2011.
Although the Americans are four-time reigning world champions, they have won an Olympic title only once, in 1998. They defeated Canada in the inaugural women’s Olympic tournament then have finished second to their northern rivals three times while missing the final in 2006. The Americans and Canadians also have played all 27 women’s World Championship finals.
“You’ve got the most beautiful rivalry in sport,” said Knight, who plays for the Boston Pride of the National Women’s Hockey League.
Is it friendly?
“No.”
It doesn’t matter that many of the women were college teammates or work together to promote their sport and encourage women’s equality.
“Make no mistake when you get that jersey on it’s all about Team USA,” Knight said.
The 5-foot-10 Knight probably wouldn’t be a hockey star had Jim and Cynthia Knight remained in Woodside two decades ago.
The Knights were long-time Peninsula residents. Jim, an executive partner at Salt Creek Capital in Menlo Park, started with Apple. Cynthia earned a degree at Golden Gate School of Law in San Francisco.
Born at Stanford Hospital, Hilary attended kindergarten at Woodside Elementary. She recalled a life of riding horses and skiing. Then the family relocated to Lake Forest, Illinois, where kids played hockey in the winter.
Cynthia took Hilary and her younger brothers to a local rink to see how they fared on skates.
The 6-year-old daughter found her passion.
“It helped that I had a strong female figure in my life,” Knight said of her mother.
Cynthia Knight, now director of development at Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation, encouraged her oldest kid to pursue what she loved even if it meant playing on boys’ hockey teams.
The family has relocated to Sun Valley, Idaho, to be closer to the slopes. But Knight attended a private school in Connecticut before becoming a three-time All-American at the University of Wisconsin.
She is the Badgers’ all-time leading goalscorer and is the first American-born player to win the Canadian Women’s Hockey League’s most valuable player award.
The list of accolades doesn’t stop there. Knight was the leading goalscorer at the 2009 World Championships at age 19 and has been described as the consummate power forward of women’s hockey.
Just don’t mention it to her. Knight deflects praise as easily as ditching a defender. But the forward stands out because she makes the plays that matter.
“You can never tell when it’s going to be,” U.S. coach Robb Stauber said. “She thrives on it. That makes her different.”
It has happened so often, Stauber said, “you kind of come to expect it.”
Knight loves the way it feels when the game decelerates at just the right moment for a game-changing goal. But credit her teammates, she insisted.
“Our line combination is the most lethal in the world,” Knight said.
