Hilary Knight can score in many ways, but that shot of hers is a defining means of bulging the twine.
photo: Matt Zambonin / HHOF-IIHF Images
No one has scored more career goals at the IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship than Hilary Knight. She has 47 in a career that began in 2007, and she has scored in all ways imaginable – greasy goals from the blue ice, tips from in front, odd-player rushes. But when you think of Knight and what a typical Knight goal is, you think about the shot. Big and strong, she can fire it with the best of them. Slap shot, one-timer, snapper, wrister. Put the puck on her stick in a good area, and danger is sure to follow.
But that was not always the case. There was a time Knight was not strong, not possessed of a bullet drive... geez, not even a forward.
“Growing up, I couldn’t lift the puck, and everyone else could, and it was just a focal point for me because I was super embarrassed that I couldn’t lift the puck or place the puck,” she admitted the other day. “So I worked on that tirelessly. Maybe it shows now, but I was a little bit slow with my development. When I was younger, I was more known for my size and being able to throw a massive bodycheck playing defence. My shot was a huge area of weakness, so I wanted to work on it.”
Countless players have damaged garage doors practising their shot. Sidney Crosby ruined the family dryer in his basement. Phil Esposito had a brother/goalie to hammer every day in the driveway. Knight had her own ways of practising.
“My coach used to put a massive bottle of soda on top of the net,” she explained with a laugh. “He said he’d buy me a soda if I could ever knock it off. I could never knock it off. It just goes to show you, if you stay with it and work on things... I got home one day and begged my mom for a net, and my brothers and I would always be outside shooting pucks on net. We just loved the game.”
Knight played her first two Women’s Worlds while she was still at the start of her college career with Wisconsin. Although she lit up the NCAA with the Badgers, that wasn’t the case in her first 14 games at WW, where she failed to score even once and recorded a lone assist.
“That’s because I didn’t really play much in ’07 or ’08!,” she chuckled at the recollection. “My first shift, I lined up, and I was terrified because I forgot my neckguard. We were up in Canada, and I think at that age I was supposed to be wearing one. I remember lining up against [Danielle] Goyette and those guys, and thinking, ‘Oh, my goodness; here we go!’ My first shift, I got a penalty on Hayley Wickenheiser, and my dad said to me after, ‘Well, you made it on the scoresheet!’ It took me a while to break the roster, but I think that’s what’s so special about the team. We have that next-person-up mentality, and when you get your opportunity, you have to seize it.”
But perhaps unlike men’s hockey, Knight didn’t feel the pressure to duplicate her scoring exploits from the NCAA to make it with the national team. It was more than that. Different.
“I think more than scoring, you have to be a dynamic player,” she explained. “You have to have a full game, all the way up the ice. If I’m around the net, I’ll get the goals, but I really pride myself on my play in the defensive area. You have to play D in order to go forward.”
Be that as it may, you don’t get 47 goals by accident in an event no one else has had as much success. So, what’s the secret?
But that was not always the case. There was a time Knight was not strong, not possessed of a bullet drive... geez, not even a forward.
“Growing up, I couldn’t lift the puck, and everyone else could, and it was just a focal point for me because I was super embarrassed that I couldn’t lift the puck or place the puck,” she admitted the other day. “So I worked on that tirelessly. Maybe it shows now, but I was a little bit slow with my development. When I was younger, I was more known for my size and being able to throw a massive bodycheck playing defence. My shot was a huge area of weakness, so I wanted to work on it.”
Countless players have damaged garage doors practising their shot. Sidney Crosby ruined the family dryer in his basement. Phil Esposito had a brother/goalie to hammer every day in the driveway. Knight had her own ways of practising.
“My coach used to put a massive bottle of soda on top of the net,” she explained with a laugh. “He said he’d buy me a soda if I could ever knock it off. I could never knock it off. It just goes to show you, if you stay with it and work on things... I got home one day and begged my mom for a net, and my brothers and I would always be outside shooting pucks on net. We just loved the game.”
Knight played her first two Women’s Worlds while she was still at the start of her college career with Wisconsin. Although she lit up the NCAA with the Badgers, that wasn’t the case in her first 14 games at WW, where she failed to score even once and recorded a lone assist.
“That’s because I didn’t really play much in ’07 or ’08!,” she chuckled at the recollection. “My first shift, I lined up, and I was terrified because I forgot my neckguard. We were up in Canada, and I think at that age I was supposed to be wearing one. I remember lining up against [Danielle] Goyette and those guys, and thinking, ‘Oh, my goodness; here we go!’ My first shift, I got a penalty on Hayley Wickenheiser, and my dad said to me after, ‘Well, you made it on the scoresheet!’ It took me a while to break the roster, but I think that’s what’s so special about the team. We have that next-person-up mentality, and when you get your opportunity, you have to seize it.”
But perhaps unlike men’s hockey, Knight didn’t feel the pressure to duplicate her scoring exploits from the NCAA to make it with the national team. It was more than that. Different.
“I think more than scoring, you have to be a dynamic player,” she explained. “You have to have a full game, all the way up the ice. If I’m around the net, I’ll get the goals, but I really pride myself on my play in the defensive area. You have to play D in order to go forward.”
Be that as it may, you don’t get 47 goals by accident in an event no one else has had as much success. So, what’s the secret?
I just try to get the puck on net. If I can get power behind it, great, but good things happen when you put pucks at the net. And you have to try to be in the right spots. That’s the biggest thing, finding the soft areas that give you time and space.
Phil Esposito and Mike Bossy used to say they never aimed the puck; the more important thing was a quick release. Agree or disagree, Hilary?
“It depends on how much time and space you have,” she continued, an artist discussing her craft. “My focus is on ‘ice geography.’ You talk about where the middle of the net is, where you are, at both ends. But, ya, if you have time, take a look, figure out where you’re going to shoot, and go for it. If you don’t, make a quick play to the net.”
Two details that may mean nothing but still must mean something, since they are part of what she brings to the success of her shot. She uses white tape. Now, there are two philosophies on white versus black. They may be right, or pure folly. You use white tape because it’s the colour of the ice, so the goalie can’t see your stick as well. You use black tape, the colour of the puck, so the goalie can’t see the puck on your stick as well. Thoughts?
Knight laughed again. “We had a coach come in one time and tried to convert us all to black tape. Another coach came by one time and said you’re doing fine with white. It’s a preference thing. Some people like a certain type of wax, some don’t.”
And then, if you look at her tape job, Knight goes from the toe only halfway down her blade. What secret sorcery is this about?
“Eventually, the puck will make its way to the toe for release. The tape just kind of started as a lazy kind of thing.”
Put all of this together and you get a series of individual choices, but “the shot” started as nothing trying to become something. And now that something is unlike anything else. Knight has the numbers to prove it – and probably a few sodas, too.
“It depends on how much time and space you have,” she continued, an artist discussing her craft. “My focus is on ‘ice geography.’ You talk about where the middle of the net is, where you are, at both ends. But, ya, if you have time, take a look, figure out where you’re going to shoot, and go for it. If you don’t, make a quick play to the net.”
Two details that may mean nothing but still must mean something, since they are part of what she brings to the success of her shot. She uses white tape. Now, there are two philosophies on white versus black. They may be right, or pure folly. You use white tape because it’s the colour of the ice, so the goalie can’t see your stick as well. You use black tape, the colour of the puck, so the goalie can’t see the puck on your stick as well. Thoughts?
Knight laughed again. “We had a coach come in one time and tried to convert us all to black tape. Another coach came by one time and said you’re doing fine with white. It’s a preference thing. Some people like a certain type of wax, some don’t.”
And then, if you look at her tape job, Knight goes from the toe only halfway down her blade. What secret sorcery is this about?
“Eventually, the puck will make its way to the toe for release. The tape just kind of started as a lazy kind of thing.”
Put all of this together and you get a series of individual choices, but “the shot” started as nothing trying to become something. And now that something is unlike anything else. Knight has the numbers to prove it – and probably a few sodas, too.