BEIJING — Two months before the 2022 Winter Olympics, where the United States women’s hockey team will defend its gold medal against perennial rival Canada on Thursday afternoon, forward Hilary Knight sat down in the players’ lounge of their Twin Cities training complex and flourished her hand to show all the little wins that had taken far too long to achieve.
“Look around,” Knight said. “Just everything—this team has advocated and built that. Which is crazy. And you don't want to be the older player at the table, like, ‘We didn’t have this back in my day,’ right? Because that message isn’t helpful. But at the same time, it’s saying, look, these resources were fought for off the backs of former players. And it would be amiss if we didn’t have this couch you can sit on or that food over there. All of these things roll into one.”
Chris Szagola/AP
