Junior year at the University of Denver found Lily Kane exactly where she belonged: on the ice, in the classroom, and somewhere in the beautiful, exhausting middle of becoming the woman she was meant to be.

The Pioneers’ women’s hockey team had moved up to a more competitive conference, and practices started at 5:45 a.m. most days. Lily’s alarm went off at 5:00, and she rolled out of bed in the dark, pulling on layers against the Colorado chill. Her roommate, Sophie—a goalie from ...