Team USA women’s hockey captain Hilary Knight shared an inside look at the 2026 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Milan with a short behind-the-scenes video on Instagram from the hours leading up to the event.
The opening ceremony took place Friday night at a sold-out San Siro Stadium with more than 60,000 spectators in attendance as the Milan-Cortina Games officially got underway.
Filmed on what Knight jokingly described as a “GoPro retro edition” the clip shows Team USA athletes dressed in their opening ceremony uniforms as they prepared off-site before making the walk to the stadium.
“From flip cameras to now. Opening ceremonies. A special moment—every time! #TeamUSA #oneforall #olympics,” read the caption of the post.
Knight’s video also showed moments from the long stretches of waiting that athletes experience before stepping onto the Olympic stage.
“We are waiting to wait more and then maybe we’ll walk eventually,” Knight said.
As the delay stretched on, Knight noted the physical toll of standing for extended periods mentioning sore legs as the team remained staged ahead of the Parade of Nations. The video also featured lighthearted moments between teammates, quick photos and casual banter.
The tone shifted once Team USA began moving through the tunnel toward the stadium with chants of “USA! USA!” breaking out as Knight filmed the transition from the holding area to the field of play. The United States delegation entered near the end of the Parade of Nations just ahead of France and host nation Italy.
Despite the excitement of walking into San Siro, Knight made it clear the focus quickly returned to competition. With games looming, she noted the team would not remain on the field for the full ceremony mentioning the need to ‘save the legs’ ahead of tournament play.
Team USA opens 2026 Olympic campaign in style
Team USA opened its women’s ice hockey campaign at the 2026 Winter Olympics with a 5-1 win over Czechia in group play at the Milano Rho Ice Hockey Arena on Thursday.
Alex Carpenter got the Americans on the board in the first period with Joy Dunne and Hilary Knight adding goals in the second. Hayley Scamurra provided the finishing touch with two goals helping the U.S. pull away as the game wore on. Goaltender Aerin Frankel was solid in net turning aside several key chances to steady the Americans after Czechia briefly pushed back.
The U.S. roster is again loaded with star power this year led by captain Hilary Knight, along with veterans Kendall Coyne Schofield, Alex Carpenter, Kelly Pannek and defenders Lee Stecklein and Caroline Harvey as well as younger scoring threats like Taylor Heise and Abbey Murphy.
Team USA is competing in Group A which also includes Canada, Finland, Switzerland and Czechia. It will feature one of the highly anticipated round-robin showdown with their longtime rivals from Canada later in the preliminary round.
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