Hilary Knight Celebrates Family Ahead Of Fifth Olympics With Team USA

To say that Hilary Knight is an icon of women’s hockey is to undersell her long list of achievements in the sport.

The 36-year-old from Sun Valley, Idaho is a four-time Olympic medalist, winning gold in 2018 as well as three silvers. In 15 IIHF world championships, she has reached the final every time, winning 10 golds and five silvers, and is the all-time leading scorer in world championship history.

Next month in Milan, Knight will step onto the Olympic stage for the fifth time. And while gold is always the goal, she is feeling reflective as she dons the Stars and Stripes for what she says will be her final Games.

“I think people just see us as the athletes on the ice,” she said. “The Olympics are so much greater than just the actual competition. Although we get into the tournament and we want to win, it really is just about the spirit, and citizens of the world, essentially, right? So when you think about celebrating the athlete, it’s also the people that got the athlete there. That’s a unique thing about the Olympics.”

This year, Knight and several other U.S. Olympians have partnered with Hershey’s for a new campaign that celebrates joy and family connections.

“I absolutely love ‘Happiness is the Real Gold,’” she said “Obviously we go out there, we win medals. ‘Happiness is the Real Gold’ really encompasses the away-from-the-spotlight moments.”

Unbeknownst to the athletes, Hershey’s interviewed their family members as part of the campaign, seeking insight on what matters most during the pursuit of excellence at the highest level. Across the board, the answer was the same: happiness.

“I grew in a chocolate household,” Knight smiled. “Hershey Kisses were readily available at all times on the countertop. To be able to celebrate my parents and those small joy moments that are away from the ice surface, that was pretty special. They were ecstatic to do a full production day and be a part of the whole thing. I had no idea they were even coming to New York. We were filming there, and Hershey surprised me.”

When Team USA won gold in Pyeongchang in 2018, women’s hockey enjoyed an unprecedented burst of media exposure for that time. All along the way, Knight has worked tirelessly to help grow her game, whether that’s behind the scenes or through media appearances and brand partnerships.

“These opportunities are unique, specifically in the Olympic space,” she said. “What an incredible honor it is to be able to tell my story through these different brands and continue to shine a spot on hockey as well. It’s tough to get airtime during the Olympics, right? There’s all the other amazing things that are happening. So, when you can show up and put more of a spotlight on women’s hockey, I think it’s an awesome opportunity.”

This time around, the lead-up to Milano Cortina is different for many women’s hockey players. Instead of centralizing with their national teams and preparing for months on end as they’ve done in the past, the sport’s top talents now skate in the Professional Women’s Hockey League, which is in its third season and continues to break attendance records.

“Everyone’s continuing to build on their strengths and work on different things in their respective markets,” said Knight. “When we come together in February, we’re going to be the strongest collection of Team USA.”

After two years in Boston, Knight is currently the captain of the expansion Seattle Torrent, which has quickly become the best-attended U.S. market in the eight-team circuit.

“You feel the support, and you barely hear anything at ice level, because that building is just rocking all the time,” she said. “It’s really unique, and I’m really fortunate that I’m in a position to go out there and have this opportunity and continue to build hockey in the Pacific Northwest. My brother was reminding me over the holidays, ‘Remember when you had 30 people in the community rink watching your games? Family was probably 28 of them, and the other two were just people walking’. I was like, ‘Yeah, thanks for reminding me’. Now we have, like, 8-to-12,000 on any given night.”

Though Seattle and Vancouver were able to stock up with high-end talent through the PWHL’s expansion process, both teams have had trouble earning points. As the 30-game regular season approaches its halfway point, they’re at the bottom of the league standings. But Seattle has played fewer games than any other team. And in a league where three points are awarded for a regulation win, things can change in a hurry.

“You win two games, all of a sudden, you’re on top of the world, leading the standings. Life is good!” Knight said with a chuckle. “You lose a game, you’re all the way down to the bottom. That three-point differential is just insane.”

In Beijing in 2022, Canada skated away with gold. But Knight’s U.S. squad was victorious at the most recent world championship last April. Year after year, the two sides deliver thrilling competition with razor-thin margins between winning and losing.

PWHL games will continue through Jan. 28, then resume on Feb. 26 and run through Apr. 25.

‘Hershey’s: It’s Your Happy Place’ is the company’s first major creative campaign in eight years. During the Olympics, a highlight will be the limited-edition Hershey’s chocolate medals, crafted with embossed designs and wrapped in gold foil, which will commemorate everyday moments of real gold, on and off the podium, that overflow with happiness.

Team USA enters the 2026 Winter Olympics as the top seed in Group A, alongside Canada, Finland, Czechia and Switzerland. Games will be played in Milan with the first U.S. contest before the official opening ceremony on Feb. 6. On Thurs, Feb. 5 at 10:40 a.m. ET, Hilary Knight and Team USA will face Czechia in the team’s first preliminary-round game at Milano Rho Ice Hockey Arena.