O'Neill Brings Olympic Silver and a Master's Degree to San Jose
The Canadian centre, who opened the scoring in the Milano Cortina gold medal game, has signed a two-year contract with PWHL San Jose.
Kristin O'Neill does not remember much about the biggest goal of her career.
"I don't really remember much from it," the Canadian centre told a University of Waterloo Faculty of Arts feature published Wednesday, describing her short-handed goal that opened the scoring in the women's gold medal game at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics. "What I know comes mostly from watching the video afterward. In that moment, it was shock more than excitement. My mind was kind of blank."
O'Neill earned an Olympic silver medal with Canada and is now headed to PWHL San Jose after signing a two-year contract through the 2027-28 season.
Her path to San Jose ran through a graduate classroom. O'Neill completed an undergraduate degree in human development at Cornell, where she captained the women's hockey team, then entered a professional landscape with limited structure before the PWHL launched in 2023. Montreal selected her in the second round of the league's inaugural draft.
While training and playing professionally, O'Neill enrolled in a psychology master's program at Waterloo focused on child development and language. She completed the degree in 2024, taking much of the program in person before finishing remotely after Montreal drafted her.
"I knew I wanted something for myself away from the rink," she said. "Being a good student has helped me as an athlete, and being an athlete has helped me as a student."
O'Neill was cut from Canada's 2022 Olympic team before making her Olympic debut in 2026. She also owns three gold medals and two silver medals from the IIHF Women's World Championship.
When her playing career ends, O'Neill plans to return to school and pursue speech pathology.
