If you see Hilary Knight spending extra time evaluating the hair of her opponents, of fans, or of coaches to close out the PWHL season, it's because she's a judge in the ongoing "Show Your Flow" contest.
If you see Hilary Knight spending extra time evaluating the hair of her opponents, of fans, or of coaches to close out the PWHL season, it's because she's a judge in the ongoing "Show Your Flow" contest.
It is typical for fans to try and sway their favorite hockey players during pregame warmups to give them a puck, stick, or to simply take a selfie with them. For Hilary Knight, amid her pregame routine, she notices the uniqueness home and away fans bring to the rink — especially the hair.
If a fan banging on the glass has a unique flow, PWHL Boston's captain may be more inclined to toss them a puck.
"I just love uniqueness and creativity," Knight told The Hockey News. "Whenever someone brings that, whether it's a stick or a puck, or whatever that may be, it's fun to bond in that way."
Through May 5, Knight, along with NHL players William Karlsson and Matthew Tkachuk, will be judging ‘hockey hair’ submissions to Great Clips for their Show Your Flow contest. They will narrow submissions to 12 finalists, and then, the public can vote for six winners who will be inducted into the Hockey Hair Hall of Fame.
Given her connection to hockey hair on and off the ice, Knight will watch for fan submissions who pop up at Boston games in the coming week.
"I'm looking forward to seeing if any of those fan submissions coming up are going to be at one of our PWHL games. I think that would be pretty epic," Knight said. "I don't want to say that's going to sway how I'm going to judge, but I definitely will put some weight behind that."
As for her judging criteria, creativity is the name of the game for the Palo Alto, California, product.
"I just love creativity and uniqueness. If somebody dialled it a bit up and has more uniqueness and flavor we haven't seen, I'd definitely appreciate that. I just love it when people can express themselves," Knight said. "Everyone has their own hairstyle and different types of hair, and it's sort of one of these galvanizing things to be a part of this contest and evaluate. It's another fun way to show the sport."
Before the contest started, Knight found herself with the United States at the women's World Championship in Utica, N.Y. Out of her American teammates, one hockey icon's flow stuck out among the rest.
"The most iconic one for me is Kendall Coyne Schofield's braid because of her moment with NHL All-Star as the fastest skater years ago," Knight said. "Then, I get to see the braids go in the wind as she's speeding around everybody on the ice first-hand.”
"She probably has the most iconic hairstyle, so if you had a portrait, you'd be able to recognize her."
As for her Boston teammates, the question of best flow was more complicated for Knight.
"Any of our goalies, whether it's Sodes [Emma Soderberg], Cami [Kronish] or Aerin [Frankel], I think people should pay attention to their flows," Knight said. "You'll see their awesome goalie masks and stuff, but they've got some good flows going on."
Knight hopes PWHL players across the board get in on the action of the Show Your Flow campaign. Especially since a new hairstyle could be a career-defining nickname moment for some players.
"You never know what hits when it hits," Knight said. "This could be one of those things that sort of redefines someone's nickname, and you don't get the typical 'er' or 'ey' or whatever at the end of the hockey nicknames."
Knight is excited to start judging hair, but like Coyne Schofield with her recent voice-acting gig on Inside Out 2, she understands the importance of PWHL players being the lead members of various projects beyond the rink.
"I think the more people see us outside of our equipment and involved in different passion projects and projects. I think fans get to see who we are truly as individuals and as people," Knight said. "I think it's equally important to see players outside of our equipment and stuff, and also, it will help you understand who we are as people and what we bring to the game."
By doing so, fans get an insight into players' interests beyond hockey.
"[It's] just a fun way to weave other interests into a sport that we all love and to connect with people that might not necessarily know that I love to evaluate great hockey hair flow and partner with Great Clips," Knight said. "So I think it's super important."