Hilary Knight - The Rebel
HOCKEY - FORWARD - USWNT
ARCHETYPE: THE REBEL
Day 18/135
Athletic Accomplishments
If you want to know anything about women’s hockey, you should start with knowing Hilary Knight. In college, she led the Wisconsin Badgers to win a national championship in 2011 and became the school’s all-time leader in goals (143) and game-winning goals (30).
Her quest to win titles didn’t stop there.
In 2013, she won the CWHL’s Most Outstanding Player Award. In the 2015-16 season, she not only won the NWHL’s Isobel Cup, she was also the regular season scoring champion. That same year, she was the IIHF World Women’s Championship Tournament MVP.
She is a decorated member of the U.S. Women’s National Hockey Team, racking up 3 Olympic medals (one gold (2018) and two silver) and 8 World Championship gold medals.
Character Archetype: The Rebel
Hilary Knight has tallied an astounding hockey career playing in the NWHL, the CWHL, and for Team USA. She could keep racking up the gold medals and titles. But that’s not enough for Knight.
There’s too much bullshit in women’s professional hockey, and Hilary Knight doesn’t put up with bullshit.
Get a load of this… The NWHL and CWHL, the two leading women’s pro hockey leagues, either paid players nothing or a meager stipend. They didn’t even provide health insurance. So Knight and 200 of the best players in the world released a joint statement saying they wouldn’t play with the NWHL or CWHL in the 2019-2020 season.
Instead, they formed the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association—a nonprofit with the goal of creating a sustainable pro league for women’s ice hockey in North America. It’s inspirational to watch these women build their own league and futures. But it’s also a real injustice.
Instead of just being able to focus on winning and their craft, Knight and her peers have to set up a nonprofit and research things like how to provide health insurance across two very different countries’ health care systems.
You’d think hockey leagues would want to build the game. You’d think they’d want to invest in a new market and new audience. But instead, they’re waiting for their Knight in padded armor.