Hilary Knight Competed in 2026 Winter Olympics With a Torn MCL

She’s going to miss some time in the PWHL now.

Hilary Knight played in the 2026 Olympics on a torn MCL. | Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

Hilary Knight competed in her fifth Olympics last month at Milan Cortina and won her second gold medal with Team USA. She even scored the game-tying goal that sent the gold medal game against Canada into overtime—breaking Team USA history along the way as it was her record 15th career Olympic goal.

Knight was unstoppable on the ice in Italy, but it’s even more impressive after learning what she was able to accomplish in the Olympics while nursing a torn MCL. Yes, you read that right.

On Monday, Knight told the CBS Mornings crew that she had a torn MCL during the Olympics, and now the injury will sideline her in a few games for the PWHL’s Seattle Torrent.

“To be able to play through injury was definitely a mental sort of gymnastic challenge for myself and also physical, but we've got some amazing support staff that did their best to get me out there and perform at my best—as best as I could.”

.@HilaryKnight played through the 2026 Olympic Games with a torn MCL — and came out a gold medal-winner.

Knight, who earned her fifth Olympic medal last month with the U.S. women’s hockey team, shares what it feels like to realize her lifelong dream and recalls the response she… pic.twitter.com/Z2Cw9WzHXv

— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) March 2, 2026

She definitely played the best she could.

While she continues to recover from the injury, Knight’s been all over the place. First, she was named one of the flag bearers at the closing ceremony alongside figure skater Evan Bates. Then, she made her second Saturday Night Live appearance on Saturday alongside fellow Team USA hockey stars Megan Keller, Quinn Hughes and Jack Hughes. Knight poked fun at the infamous viral clip of President Donald Trump making a joke about having to invite the women’s hockey team to the State of the Union address, too, or he’d get impeached. Knight has spoken out about the “distasteful” joke a few times, but remains on the fact that the women’s and men’s teams are still close and support one another. Multiple players on the U.S. men’s hockey team have come out in defense of the women’s hockey team since, too.

Even though Knight isn’t back to playing on the ice yet, she did receive a standing ovation from the first ever sold-out Torrent crowd over the weekend.

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