In a dramatic Olympic final, Team USA’s women’s hockey beat Canada in a comeback overtime victory. They claimed their third Olympic gold, coming in their fifth consecutive final. It was a classic comeback story against a team that has claimed five of the seven medals and was also the first for Team USA since PyeongChang in 2018. And now, USA Hockey has announced that another milestone has been hit.

For the first time in their history, USA Hockey has eclipsed 100,000 girls & women’s hockey players. The 100,000th player is 13-year-old Joanna Gilligan, playing in Utah Mammoth’s new all-girls program. This comes as no surprise, given the success that women’s hockey has had over the last few years. In the last decade alone, USA Hockey has seen registrations shoot through the roof thanks to the rise of professional women’s hockey.

Since women’s ice hockey made its Olympic debut at the 1998 Winter Olympics, participation among girls and women in the United States has skyrocketed dramatically. What began with roughly 28,000 players has grown by more than 250%, and that right there defines the craze. 

That surge is clearly reflective of the team’s success over the past few years, with Team USA winning multiple gold medals in the last year at the U-18 World Championships, Olympic Games, and World Championships. Executive director of USA Hockey, Pat Kelleher, hence praised the program and the people behind it.

“It’s a great day for hockey in our country,” said Kelleher as per USA Hockey’s official website. “So many people have worked tirelessly in building opportunities for girls and women’s players in this country, and it seems appropriate we celebrate reaching 100,000 for the first time ever during Hockey Week Across America.”

Then there is the evergreen inspiration, Hilary Knight herself, who is the all-time points leader and leading Olympic goal scorer in U.S. women’s hockey history. She has repeatedly sought to fight the stigma women face and has been a great mentor to the younger teammates. And as she says, “Playing like a girl was used as a demeaning term… I am proud to be a girl and rocking the ice.”

Team USA’s Hilary Knight surprises Gilligan

In the process of leading Team USA to a gold, Hilary Knight scored her 15th Olympic goal, the most ever by an American woman. It’s just another record Knight broke in her fifth and possibly final Olympics, since the list also includes most goals (15) and most points (33). So, it’s bound to be special to have your celebratory night be marked by her surprise presence, and that was the case for Joanna G. 

Knight spoke at length about how much the recent achievement means and why it’s important to keep moving the needle.

“To be able to share the gold medal with our respective communities has been outstanding and to top it off with the 100,000th girls and women’s registrant coming from Utah is pretty incredible,” Knight said as per USA Hockey. “What the Mammoth have been able to do to grow hockey in this state is reflective in this accomplishment.”

“We don’t get to the Olympics without signing up at a young age. So the support we have state-by-state, community-by-community, is just outstanding. It’s only going to continue to deepen and continue to grow, specifically on the women’s side,” Knight also said. “When I step away from the game, I’m really happy and fortunate that all of us had a small hand in helping move the needle in that way.”

With time, Knight and the current era of women’s hockey are bound to produce everlasting results.