Inked into the left rib cage, underneath thick layers of protective padding, a tattoo detailing areas of west Athens inside a sketch of a house reminded the hockey goalie of years that turned her dreams into a reality.
“My parents were going to sell our house … if they were going to sell the house in Athens (my brother and I) would have no reason to go back,” said Gwyneth Philips, goalie for the U.S. women’s hockey team and recent Olympic gold medalist. “So, we both got our first tattoos of the house … and now my parents aren’t selling the house.”
The tattoo, reflecting Gwyneth Philip's memorable childhood alongside her older brother, Guy Philips, is just a small token of her appreciation for Athens.
“It is really fun to be from such a unique and caring community that isn’t known for hockey,” Gwyneth Philips said. “I get to wear that with pride.”
Gwyneth Philips, starting goalie for the Ottawa Charge, a team in the Professional Women’s Hockey League, appeared in the Milano Cortina Olympic Games just a few weeks ago, playing a pivotal role in Team USA’s road to winning the gold medal in a heated overtime win against Canada.
“You’re in the thick of it with all of these other countries … and everyone has so much respect for each other,” Gwyneth Philips said. “To get to play for Team USA and represent your country is obviously a huge honor and something a lot of people, a lot of hockey players, look up to and strive for.”
Gwyneth Philips’ parents, Linda and Guy Philips, never expected to raise an Olympic gold medalist.
“I never imagined it,” Linda Philips, mother to Gwyneth Philips, said. “It definitely wasn’t the reason we (played hockey). We just did it because it was an activity that was locally available to us and something we could take advantage of in the area.”
The family nestled in a house on Congress Street, making frequent trips to Bird Ice Arena and West Elementary School. The family still calls the house home.
Gwyneth Philip’s older brother played multiple sports, including hockey.
“My parents signed us up for everything,” Gwyneth Philips said. “I learned to skate at Bird. One of my really good friends growing up, his dad was kind of in charge of Ohio University recreations, and so his office was up in the mezzanine. I remember just having full reign of the whole rink.”
Though Gwyneth Philips played multiple sports as a child, including volleyball, baseball, track and basketball, her father said she was especially gifted in skating.
“She was just a beautiful skater,” Guy Philips said. “She was a brilliant skater, just as fast as could be, and showed all the other kids how it’s supposed to be done.”
Despite Gwyneth’s career as a goalie, Guy Philips said he was not always keen on her playing the position.
“I was not encouraging her to be a goalie because her ability to play out was so good,” Guy Philips said. “But one time we were in Chicago with her older brother … so we slipped by Play It Again Sports and I got her some cheap, used goalie equipment. That was the end of that.”
Gwyneth Philips spent a few years as a child playing on travel hockey teams in Columbus, traveling to Detroit, Kentucky and other areas two to three times per week for practices and games.
According to her father, the mothers of the boy players on Gwyneth Philips' teams “thought she was really something special” and knew she would be an Olympian.
Supporting his children’s hockey dreams day-to-day was easy and rewarding, Guy Philips said.
“At the Olympics, they had some person from the Olympics committee who was speaking to all the parents and talking about the sacrifices these parents have made,” Guy Philips said. “It just didn’t resonate with me at all. Everything I did was never a sacrifice. It was just fun, I really enjoyed every bit of it.”
Guy Philips and Gwyneth Philips both said friends from Athens, whom she played hockey with at a young age, made the trip to Milan to watch her play in the Olympic Games.
Gwyneth Philips, currently 25-years-old, attended Shady Side Academy in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for high school and Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, for college. She played competitive hockey at both schools and was named National Goaltender of the Year in 2023 while attending Northeastern.
“I think people would be surprised at what athletes at that level have to give up,” Linda Philips said. “You can’t go to the prom because it’s the same weekend as a tournament that’s out of town. There’s a lot of things you have to give up, and so (we were) trying to be supportive of that and … help her to live as normal as possible.”
The goalie made her International Ice Hockey Federation World Championship debut in 2024, in the women’s world championship game. In 2025, she made a second appearance, filling in for an injured Aerin Frankel and making 17 saves, including 10 in overtime to defeat Canada 4-3.
Despite her busy schedule, Gwyneth Philips said she visits Athens in the summer at least once, stopping at some of her favorite places.
“I always have to go to GoodFellas … to Avalanche (and) O’Betty’s,” she said. “The C.I. is my bar and then I have to get a nightcap hot nut (shot) from Tony’s on my way home.”
Gwyneth Philips said one of her earliest memories in Athens encompasses how “special” the city is.
“I was outside, shooting at a little basketball hoop … and this kid comes by with a 40 rack in his hand,” she said. “He puts it down … and he’s like, ‘Let me teach you how to shoot a basketball’ because I was shooting with two hands. That is super Athens.”
Current OU students like Chloe Johnson, a freshman studying environmental science and wildlife conservation biology, said Gwyneth Philips is a role model for not only Athens’ residents, but women in sports.
“I just think it’s so cool to see women in a space that is so dominated by men,” Johnson said. “Having the Athens blocks on all of (Gwyneth’s) helmets is so cool and it just feels so special.”
As the Ottawa Charge season continues, Gwyneth Philips said she might be far from the city living in Ottawa, Canada, but is forever rooted in Athens and proud to call it home.
“To get to play in front of people and people get to hear the name Athens, I think is really special,” she said. “Athens has done a lot for me, and I’d like to give back in whatever way I can.”
