By Trevor Stynes
MILAN, Feb 20 (Reuters) – United States captain Hilary Knight kept her cool to lead her side past Canada in the Olympic women’s ice hockey final, and then admitted she was more nervous about getting down on one knee than about the gold medal showdown.
Knight, like her partner the U.S. speedskater Brittany Bowe, is appearing in her last Games, and went out on a high as the Americans took the title from their biggest rivals on Thursday.
The U.S. beat the Canadians with a 2-1 overtime win after the captain equalised with just over two minutes left.
The day before the final, Knight posted her marriage proposal video on social media, having had that moment hanging over her since the start of the Games.
“I think I was more nervous for the proposal than I was for the gold medal game to be honest, and my legs felt like jello,” Knight told reporters after the final.
“I was kind of carrying that for the whole tournament, I was like, ‘I just need to get this over with,’ and I looked at the calendar and thought, ‘well once we win this game we’re not going to have much time’.”
Knight and Bowe met at the Beijing 2022 Games, a major reason behind her decision to pop the question at Milano Cortina.
“Call me crazy, but doing it before the gold medal game it just seemed fitting for us, we found one another through the Olympics and it was just really special.
“To cap it all off with the gold medal is awesome and I can’t wait to cheer her on for the 1,500 metres.”
Knight will be at the Milano Speed Skating Stadium on Friday as two-times bronze medallist Bowe bids to end her Olympic career with a medal in the women’s 1,500m, having finished fourth in the 1,000m and team pursuit.
(Reporting by Trevor Stynes; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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