Junior year at the University of Denver brought Lily Kane something she hadn’t expected: a real social life.

The first two years had been all hockey and classes—early mornings on the ice, afternoons in lecture halls, evenings in study carrels or the team film room. Friendships were deep but mostly confined to teammates: bus rides, locker-room laughs, late-night pizza after road trips. She’d gone to a few parties, danced awkwardly at a couple of formals, and enjoyed the quiet rhythm ...