Shining Knight to lead U.S. again

Cammi Granato had never forgotten the young girl she lent her stick and gloves to during one of the former U.S. Olympian’s first hockey camps in Chicago in the late 1990s.

It was years later when Granato discovered that girl just happened to be Hilary Knight.

“Her stick broke and I said, ‘Here, just take mine right now,’ because she didn’t have another one. I mean, she was so little,” Granato recalled. “I remember her distinctly at that moment. I didn’t know it was Hilary until Hilary told me years later that it was her.”

Knight was 8, and drawn to the sport in large part due to Granato, who captained the 1998 United States team that beat Canada in Nagano to win the Winter Olympics’ first women’s hockey gold medal.

The symbolism of her passing the stick on to Knight isn’t lost on the 50-year-old Granato.

Much like Granato and her teammates did to inspire a generation of girls to take up hockey, the 32-year-old Knight is doing the same, having become the face of a U.S. team preparing to defend its latest Olympic title at the Beijing Games.

“That’s the one thing I really admire about this group of women. They’re actually out there growing the game, pushing the envelope for more rights, for more equality while they’re playing,” said Granato, the first female Hockey Hall of Fame inductee who now serves as a scout for the Seattle Kraken.

“So Hilary, both on and off the ice, what she means for the growth of the game is exponential,” she said. “She’s an incredible role model. She’s got a great personality. She’s fun. She a lethal goal-scorer . ... she’s a powerhouse.”

Knight is making her U.S. women’s hockey record-matching fourth Olympic appearance in which she’s won a gold and two silvers.

The 5-foot-11 forward has a powerful skating style and hard shot, ranking fifth in the U.S. Olympic record book with 17 career points (six goals, 11 assists), one behind Granato. At the world championships, Knight surpassed Granato’s records (44 goals and 78 points) in August by increasing her totals to 47 goals and 80 points.

A few months later, Knight was still having difficulty grasping the reality of moving ahead of her idol.

“It still feels so distant still,” she said. “It still feels very much that Cammi’s No. 1 to me, personally, you know? Because that’s what it feels like, right? I still feel very much so like a little kid in many ways.”

She continues to play because of the joy she still draws from hockey. Yet Knight has proved more than capable of taking on many of the challenges women have faced in advancing the game.

Knight was at the forefront of the U.S. players’ threat to boycott the 2017 world championships on home soil, successfully achieving their bid for better pay and more equitable treatment from USA Hockey. Two years later, Knight helped form the Professional Women’s Player’s Hockey Association, which continues to push for a North American women’s pro league with sustainable wages.