Hilary Knight talks growing girls’ hockey, upcoming Women’s Worlds in Plymouth
By @StefanKubus –
Some of the game’s most prominent names in USA Hockey talked growing the game Wednesday afternoon as part of Hockey Week Across America.
Arguably the biggest name in the women’s game, Hilary Knight, spoke about the excitement currently surrounding girls’ and women’s hockey.
A two-time Olympic silver medalist and six-time IIHF Women’s World Champion, Knight said she’s looking forward to competing with Team USA for a seventh world title in April, this year on home soil at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth.
“From my perspective, it’s a really exciting time to be specifically in women’s hockey,” Knight said. “We are absolutely over-the-moon thrilled about hosting the U.S. Women’s World Championship and also the support that we had this past December with our Winter Champions Series.
“Another exciting thing coming up is obviously this week, the Hockey Week Across America, which – I get to play the sport all the time, so I’m always excited about playing hockey, but just the event and being able to try hockey for free and also salute the officials and wear your favorite jersey on Friday or whatever it may be, it’s just a great week to celebrate the sport in general.”
Knight played her college hockey at Wisconsin and led the Badgers to the national championship game in each of her four years there, winning titles in her sophomore and junior campaigns.
More recently, she captained the Boston Pride to the National Women’s Hockey League Isobel Cup in the league’s inaugural season. She was also the league’s leading scorer.
Undoubtedly, she has been a huge part in growing the participation numbers in women’s hockey across the U.S.
USA Hockey executive director Dave Ogrean said the last decade has seen a growth increase of 20-percent in girls’ and women’s participation, which is impressive considering the circumstances.
“It’s very, very fun to see the growth of girls’ and women’s hockey,” Ogrean said. “We have over 73,000 girls and women playing today. That’s up about 20-percent from a decade ago. Some people might say 20-percent is not that big of a number, but all the growth we’ve enjoyed – and we have been according to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association – one of only three team sports to grow over the last seven years, along with rugby and lacrosse. We’ve done it with a stagnant number of facilities. And if you don’t have a lot of rink growth in this country, you’ve gotta be pretty creative and put a lot of hard work in order to continue to grow the game. But we’ve been able to do that.”
Knight added that with how expensive the sport can be at the youth level, Saturday’s Try Hockey for Free Day is an invaluable asset to growing girls’ hockey throughout the country.
“I know that speaks volumes, especially when I was growing up and how I first got introduced to the sport, because I know it can be daunting at first when you think about all the equipment you need, the skates and how you get the ice time and whatnot,” Knight said. “I think over the years, USA Hockey has made it a lot easier to try hockey and try it for free. And Hockey Week Across America is a great starting point for that.”