For the first three decades of her life, reaching the peak of women’s hockey was Meghan Duggan’s driving force.
She wanted an Olympic gold medal. Needed one.
There was heartbreak along the way — namely a blown third-period lead to Canada in the 2014 gold-medal game — but she eventually got there. In 2018, with Duggan as captain, Team USA beat Canada in a shootout to take the Olympic crown. Duggan dogpiled with her teammates and pumped her fist in elation. She’d done it.
That gold-medal game was the last time Duggan ever played for Team USA.
At 30 years old, it was time for a new chapter for one of the most decorated U.S. hockey players in history. Gone were the grueling practices, the thrills of competition, the chase for a collective goal. Duggan needed to find new sources of purpose and motivation.
Confronting that, she says, was the hardest and most emotional part of the transition.
“Being a player for so long and everything that comes with that, there’s always that identity crisis of ‘I’ve thrown my entire life into something since I can remember, and now I’m still a really passionate, driven person, and what can I put that into?’” she says.
What do you do when you’ve achieved your dreams? You make new ones.
