The 2024-25 iteration of the Rivalry Series continues Sunday night in Boise, Idaho.
For Team USA captain Hilary Knight, game three of the 2024-25 Rivalry Series, presented by Discover, at Idaho Central Arena comes with personal significance.
It will be by far the closest to a home game that Knight has gotten to play with Team USA. She’s spent much of her life in Sun Valley, Idaho, and her family still lives in the mountain town a few hours east of Boise.
“It’s incredibly special to play in Idaho,” Knight said. “In the past I’ve said I wish we could bring this show, this team through the mountain region so people can see just how skilled the squad is and how amazing this rivalry is. Now it’s finally happening.”
With the Utah Hockey Club playing their inaugural NHL season and the announcement of the 2034 Winter Olympic Games returning to Salt Lake City, it’s possible hockey has never been more popular in the mountain states.
Knight and U.S. teammate Taylor Heise recently visited the area to promote the upcoming series, skating with youth players and appearing at an NHL game.
“It’s super important for the mountain regions to see these strong, powerful women and for us to be able to inspire them and have a positive impact through sport,” Knight said. “We don’t regularly get out here to this area, so it’s a really unique opportunity.”
A Minnesota native who’s played her whole career in the hockey hotbed, Heise said she’d never been to the mountain area of the country and was happy to see the enthusiasm people were showing for hockey.
“This area is going to be a new hockey hotbed,” Heise said. “There’s so much hockey excitement right now and I don’t know if they know what to do with it. I’m excited we get to bring the women’s game here. We’re trying to get everyone in the stands and to see how important the sport is and how cool it can be here.”
As the profile for women’s sports continues to rise, Knight said it’s important that this normally underserved area for hockey gets to see the national team and what’s possible for women and girls in hockey.
There are currently no NCAA-sponsored college hockey programs west of Minnesota — the skate with Olympians event Heise and Knight did in Utah was in conjunction with the University of Utah women’s club hockey team. Knight is hopeful that is something that changes in the coming years and more girls that grow up like she did have the chance to play NCAA hockey.
“I just think back of all the amazing things that this sport has given me and the opportunities playing has afforded me to be able to go around the world and receive an education and meet these amazing people,” Knight said. “To be able to share just a piece of that with the area I call home, whether that’s through the actual competition, the Rivalry Series, or just having more eyes that are now on the sport is really special and surreal in many ways. It’s a dream come true.”
The Rivalry Series serves as an unofficial kickoff of a new season of play for the U.S. Women’s National Team, Heise said. Even though the national team and professional hockey aren’t connected, these games will be the first time these teams will be on the ice together for games since the IIHF Women’s World Championship this past April.
Training camps for the PWHL season start on Nov. 12, meaning Heise will join the Minnesota Frost and Knight will head to Boston to join the Fleet directly after the Rivalry Series.
Knight is excited for the buildup and to see what a full slate of games with the national team and the PWHL can look like. The Rivalry Series was originally created in 2018 to give the U.S. and Canada national team players more consistent ice time. With the PWHL, that’s not as much of a concern, but now the players must manage a larger workload and find the balance between time with the national team and their professional team.
The second set of Rivalry Series games are scheduled for Feb. 6 and 8 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Summerside, Prince Edward Island, during a break in the PWHL calendar. The league will also take a three-week break for the 2025 IIHF Women’s World Championship in April.
“To be able to have the Rivalry Series, have a professional league, and be in the forefront of people’s minds when they talk about women in sport is important. It’s crucial so we can continue to train at a high pace and push the sport forward.”
Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.
