{"id":602996,"date":"2026-02-20T08:29:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T08:29:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/602996\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T08:29:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T08:29:12","slug":"laila-edwards-to-hilary-knight-for-olympic-final-tying-goal-is-poetic-for-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/602996\/","title":{"rendered":"Laila Edwards to Hilary Knight for Olympic final-tying goal is poetic for US"},"content":{"rendered":"

MILAN (AP) \u2014 Hilary Knight is in her last Olympics, wrapping up a stretch as the face of women\u2019s hockey<\/a> in the United States. Laila Edwards is in her first and could very well be Knight\u2019s successor<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The present and future of the sport combined on a spectacular tying goal late in the gold-medal game against Canada. Knight tipped Edwards\u2019 shot in with just over two minutes left in regulation, and Megan Keller\u2019s overtime goal sent the U.S. home with gold<\/a> in its beloved 36-year-old captain\u2019s swan song at the Games.<\/p>\n

\u201cCouldn\u2019t script it any better than that,\u201d teammate Rory Guilday said. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was a storybook ending for Knight, who proposed<\/a> to American speedskater Brittany Bowe on Wednesday. She acknowledged being more nervous about getting engaged than playing hockey.<\/p>\n

Against Canada in the final, the nerves built up as the game went on and the U.S. trailed with time ticking off the clock. Knight did not want to settle for silver in her Olympic finale, and when the play was decided on before the next faceoff she thought: \u201cYeah, this is our moment. Here we go.\u201d<\/p>\n

The puck went to Edwards, and Knight knew she needed to get in front of the net because the defenseman was either going to shoot for a tip or right into the net. Fearing she\u2019d miss again, Edwards aimed at Knight\u2019s stick and the veteran star sent the puck spinning through her legs and into the net.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew I took a lot of high shots that game and it wasn\u2019t going my way,\u201d Edwards said. \u201cI knew we had a lot of traffic there, and so I get it to the net and Hilary\u2019s there and she\u2019ll take care of it, which she did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edwards called it unbelievable to play a role in Knight\u2019s final goal at the Olympics, her 15th to give her sole possession of the U.S. record.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust to even be a very small part of what Hilary\u2019s accomplished, I\u2019m so honored,\u201d Edwards said. \u201cAnd to learn from her every day, it\u2019s just been such a blessing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Knight won her second Olympic gold medal to go with three silvers. In many sports, finishing second is a major accomplishment, but for the U.S. and Canada in women\u2019s hockey it means a devastating loss in a bitter rivalry.<\/p>\n

When the puck went in the net past goaltender Ann-Renee Desbiens, Knight said to herself, \u201cWe\u2019re going to win the game.\u201d Now Knight gets to skate off into the sunset a champion again.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve said this is my last Games,\u201d Knight said. \u201cI\u2019ve had a heck of a week personally. It\u2019s been an incredible ride. I have to soak this all in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edwards is, too, with her family in attendance<\/a>, but she\u2019s just 22 and should have many more Olympics ahead of her. That\u2019s the part that excites Knight as she passes the torch to Edwards and the next generation of Americans.<\/p>\n

\u201cLaila is just such a special person and means so much to this group and I\u2019m so excited that everybody got to see her unleash her talents on the world stage,\u201d Knight said. \u201cIt\u2019s only fitting that there\u2019s more of that to come with her.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP Winter Olympics: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MILAN (AP) \u2014 Hilary Knight is in her last Olympics, wrapping up a stretch as the face of…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":602997,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[10],"tags":[224667,191963,259551,255022,249189,8665,259166,249188,44831,253335,259552,62,67,132,68,75618,196611],"class_list":["post-602996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-2026-milan-cortina-olympic-games","tag-2026-winter-olympics","tag-ann-renee-desbiens","tag-brittany-bowe","tag-hilary-knight","tag-hockey","tag-laila-edwards","tag-megan-keller","tag-olympic-games","tag-olympic-hockey","tag-rory-guilday","tag-sports","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-winter-olympic-games","tag-womens-hockey"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116102022345108465","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=602996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602996\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/602997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}