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<\/p>\nOne of the hometown hopefuls North Texans are watching closely at the Winter Olympics is Hannah Bilka, a 24-year-old from Coppell who has become a key contributor for the U.S. women\u2019s hockey team.<\/p>\n
Long before she pulled on a Team USA jersey, Hannah was a fearless, sports-loving little girl. Her parents, Dan and Patricia Bilka, said her athletic drive was obvious almost from the start.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe loved sports,\u201d Dan said. \u201cAll the time.\u201d Patricia still laughs remembering Hannah rock climbing at just 3 years old. \u201cI couldn\u2019t believe how fast she could go. She\u2019s not afraid at all.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHannah Bilka scores 2 goals to extend the United States\u2019 lead over Canada in Olympic women\u2019s hockey.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
The Bilka home tells the story \u2014 decades of photos, trophies and jerseys filling shelves and walls. There\u2019s gear from Hannah’s earliest hockey days in Corpus Christi, championship hardware from college, and national team sweaters, including the familiar No. 23 she now wears internationally.<\/p>\n
Finding girls’ hockey at a competitive level often meant long road trips. Weekend tournaments became routine, the miles adding up as Hannah chased more challenging competition.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t push her at all. She did it,\u201d Patricia said.<\/p>\n
That pursuit eventually took her away from North Texas. Hannah chose to attend high school in Minnesota \u2014 hockey country \u2014 and later earned opportunities at Boston College and Ohio State University, where she won a national championship. From there, she moved into the professional ranks with the Seattle Torrent.<\/p>\n
Then came the call every athlete dreams of: Team USA selected Hannah for the 2026 Winter Olympics.<\/p>\n
Her parents said they never imagined the journey would reach the Olympic stage.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur goal for her was to get a college degree,\u201d Patricia said. \u201cThat was it.\u201d<\/p>\n
They will never forget the moment they learned that Hannah had made the Olympic roster. Patricia was driving home when Dan FaceTimed her \u2014 barely able to speak through tears. Hannah was on the phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s just holding it and crying,\u201d Patricia recalled. \u201cAnd he\u2019s saying, \u2018She made it\u2026 she made it.\u2019 That\u2019s how I found out.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Dan said there\u2019s no doubt Hannah will rise to her Olympic moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome people get choked up at game time,\u201d he said. \u201cShe seems to excel in that environment. I just call her a gamer.\u201d<\/p>\n
From Texas rinks as a child to a national championship, and now the world\u2019s biggest stage in Milan, Hannah Bilka\u2019s journey has always been her own.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re just along for the ride,\u201d Patricia said. \u201cAnd we\u2019re so proud of her \u2014 because this is her journey, and we just get to be a part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of the hometown hopefuls North Texans are watching closely at the Winter Olympics is Hannah Bilka, a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":159601,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[48241,27,29,28],"class_list":["post-159600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-2026-milan-cortina-olympics","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159600\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}