STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

Sun Valley’s Hilary Knight was at the forefront of a thrilling gold medal game between Team USA and archrival Canada Thursday.

But the Sun Valley Culinary Institute and nearly 50 Sun Valley fans of Hilary Knight also got a couple moments in the spotlight during a Watch Party at the cooking school.

American and Olympic flags were draped across the wall of the red brick building built as a mercantile in 1884. And posters of Hilary Kngiht lined the room as supporters wearing Team USA scarves and jackets watched the game that was taking place 5,436 miles away in Milan.

Bob Kaplan, Michelle Griffith, Susan Passovoy and Harry Griffith were among those at the watch party for Hilary Knight and Team USA.

The small crowd cheered as an NBC cameraman positioned in the corner of the building panned the crowd for the broadcast being watched across the world.

And they chowed down on a brunch of bagels, bacon, egg muffins and fruit in the party that was organized by Harry Griffith, who created the SVCI and has known Hilary’s mother Cynthia Knight longer than you might expect.

“I’ve known Cynthia Knight since 1982 when we were college classmates at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth,” he said. “I’ve known her longer than my wife.”

As the game progressed, Patsy Huntingon tried to rally support for a statue of the five-time Olympian that would join Our Olympic Ladies in Champion Meadows on Sun Valley Road. The $200,000 statue would be created by Boise sculptor Benjamin Victor, who created the statues of Christin Cooper, Kaitlyn Farrington, Picabo Street and Muffy Davis. The plan is to dedicate it during the 2027 World Cup Finals in Sun Valley.

Bob Crews and Tricia Killingsworth wave tiny American flags in front of a Hilary Knight poster with a picture of what a statue would look like in the lower right inset.

“John (Gove) and I first saw Hilary play at the 2010 Games in Vancouver and we got to know her family after that,” said Huntington who has been wearing her Hilary Knight jersey into Atkinsons Market and all about town this week. “Those who want to donate can go to  https://www.hilaryknightsv.com/.”

Among the Team USA supporters was one standout.

Bob Kaplan wore a Canada jacket, but the crowd let him and his wife Susan Passovoy in anyway. Kaplan had good reason to cheer for Canada. He represented Canada in the 1980 Winter Olympics single men’s luge competition, and he captained the Canadian National Rugby team.

Born in Montreal, he moved to Vancouver, B.C., as a child. He crossed the border to attend Harvard Business School and coached the rugby team in Aspen before moving to Sun Valley full time in 1991.

The first two periods of the Gold Medal hockey game saw just one goal.

“It’s a hockey watch party to me,” he said. “You’ve got to guess who I’m rooting for—I’m not going to tell you.”

Passovoy left no one guessing about who she was rooting for. “I met Cynthia Knight when she was working for the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation, and the Knight family is the most enthusiastic family. The kids are outstanding and Hilary is such a great leader. She puts on clinics for kids in Sun Valley and elsewhere and she’s contributed so much to women in sports.”

The Americans had beaten Canada 5-0 earlier in the preliminary rounds—one of Team USA’s five shutouts. But Canada, which had won five of the last six women’s Olympic Games, was not about to go down easy.

There wasn’t a lot to cheer about during the first two periods as Canada’s goaltender Aerin Frankel deflected the Americans’ shots. The crowd groaned as Canada’s Kristin O’Neill scored less than a minute into the second period, ending Team USA’s record-setting streak of 350-plus scoreless minutes.

Hilary Knight’s goal was the slap heard 5,436 miles around the world.

The crowd cheered when Hilary Knight was pictured mic’d up and they cheered when TV cameras zeroed in on U.S. speed skater Brittany Bowe, to whom Knight became engaged this week. And they groaned as a breakaway ended with three Canadians surrounding their goal.

“She waited too long,” lamented one man.

The NBC cameraman, listening to instructions via a wire piece, kept his eye glued to the viewfinder focused on the crowd, not the TV screen.

The one time Americans converged around the net in the second period, Bob Kantor was standing at the bar.

“Of all people, you’re the one blocking my view” joked Bonnie Hovencamp as she shook her finger at Kaplan.

As the low-scoring game continued, Lisa Marie Allen, an Olympic figure skater, did double duty, watching U.S. figure skater Amber Glenn’s performance on her phone with one eye while maintaining the other on the big screen above the SVCI bar.

“My favorite is Isabeau Levito—she’s so graceful,” she said.

Knight, who at 20 was the youngest player on the team during her first Olympics and now 36, the oldest, rallied her troops in a second intermission interview, saying “We have to stick to our game plan and turn up the dial.”

And that’s what she did, tipping a shot into Canada’s goal with just 2 and a half minutes left in the game.

The goal not just tied the game, but it gave Knight the most all-time goals and all-time points by an American woman in the Olympics. She also has the U.S. Olympic hockey record for all-time points and goals.

Two last minute shots were foiled by Canada’s goalie, sending the game into overtime. And four minutes into overtime, Megan Keller evaded a defender, crossed in front of the goalie and batted the puck slightly behind her into the net for the win.

The women had outscored their opponents by a combined 31-1 during these Olympic Games. And Knight—considered the GOAT of women’s hockey—had Gold Medal No. 2 hanging around her neck.

It was just America’s third gold medal, even though Team USA has appeared in all but one gold medal match since women’s hockey debuted at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano. The Americans last mined gold in a shootout at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.

"It's magical. I mean, these are the moments you dream about as a little kid, everything on the line in the big moments," Knight told a newscaster.

DID YOU KNOW?

The Sun Valley Culinary Institute isn't the only food establishment to be featured at the 2026 Winter Olympics. NBC Alpine ski announcer Steve Porino also put in a plug for WrapCity, which is the eatery of alpine skier Ryder Sarchett.