They say love is in the air. Hockey player Hilary Knight and speed skater Brittany Bowe found it on the ice. 

Four years after they first came together in the Olympic Village in Beijing, Knight got down on one knee in Milan, bringing their Olympic love story full circle.

"Olympics brought us together," Knight wrote on Instagram. "This one made us forever."

Though Knight and Bowe had crossed paths for years, competing at the same Olympics for nearly a decade prior, it took until 2022 for the two to really connect.

The Olympic experience looked very different in Beijing, modified to protect the athletes from catching COVID-19. Still, Bowe and Knight made an effort to get to know each other, taking evening walks, meeting up for meals, and processing the intensity of Olympic competition together.

“[We were] fully masked," Knight told NBCOlympics.com in June. "It wasn't romantic at all. But it was cute."

Now, the Olympic power couple owns a house in Salt Lake City, Utah, where the U.S. speed skating team trains. 

Their winter schedules often keep them both away from home: Bowe travels all over the globe for World Cup competitions, while Knight, who captains the PWHL's Seattle Torrent, spends much of her time in different cities across the United States for games. In the offseason, they try to make the most of their time together, gardening, cycling, and playing pickleball. 

Bowe admits that she's the more competitive of the two.

"When I first met Hilary — you know, she's this 'Captain America' hockey player," Bowe told the media at the USOPC summit in October. "And when we started to talk ... [she was] very soft, very gentle, very quiet, and here I am just full force all the time."

She can even beat Knight in a race on hockey skates, she said, though Knight doesn't look too shabby on speed skates.

Knight, a five-time Olympian and one of hockey's most accomplished players, owns 10 world titles — the most ever by any hockey player — and leads the goals (67), points (120), and assists (53) categories at the IIHF Women’s World Championships. In Milan, she tied the U.S. records for all-time Olympic goals and points in women's hockey. She could break those records in Thursday's gold medal game against Canada.

Originally an inline skater, Bowe made the transition to ice after the 2010 Games. In the 16 years since, she's become a legend in the sport, collecting 91 World Cup medals, 22 national titles, six world championship golds, four world records, and two Olympic bronzes.

Needless to say, the two lead very busy lives separately, so to have a partner that understands the pressure and demands that come with being an elite athlete means everything.

“As top-tier athletes, you really know what that person may need, whether it's support or space,"  And I think both of us being at a high level for a pretty long time helps us understand one another,” Knight said in June.

Though they say they made the decision to retire independently, having someone to lean on as they approached their final Olympic appearances has significantly eased the transition, Bowe said.

"It's been amazing being able to share this portion of my journey with Hilary — somebody that knows exactly what I'm going through the same way with me knowing what she's going through," Bowe said. "A lot of times, sport comes before any other choices you make in your life, and we've been able to support each other and been able to cheer each other on."

The puck drops on United States/Canada Thursday, Feb. 19, at 1:10 p.m. E.T. Bowe will take Olympic ice for the final time in the women's 1500m Friday, Feb. 20, at 10:30 a.m. E.T.