At a summer hockey camp near Chicago, 7-year-old Kendall Coyne watched in wonder as Cammi Granato reached into her hockey bag and pulled out her Olympic gold medal. Coyne, ferociously in love with hockey, played on boys’ teams because there were no other options where she lived in Palos Heights, Ill.

Then she saw that gold medal, and it gave her a glimpse of the future.

“It was the first time it hit me: ‘OK, so girls win gold medals, and boys win Stanley Cups,’?’’ said the lifelong Blackhawks fan.

“I was young, but [Granato] was someone on the women’s side I looked up to. Our Christmas card that year was Cammi and me and my siblings. My brothers thought she was just as cool as I did. It was just an eye-opening experience.’’

Coyne had been playing hockey since she was 3, since the day she rejected the white figure skates her parents gave her and claimed instead a pair of black hockey skates so she could be just like her older brother, Kevin.

“I haven’t looked back since,’’ she said.

The hockey skates were a good choice. Now 23, the speedy Northeastern senior forward is leading the nation in goals (39) and points (68), and the fifth-ranked Huskies (25-4-1) are on a 14-game winning streak. Next up is No. 1-ranked Boston College (29-0-0) in the Beanpot championship game Tuesday at BU’s Walter Brown Arena. The Eagles are led by Coyne’s Olympic teammate Alex Carpenter, who is just a point behind Coyne for the national scoring lead.

Northeastern lost to BC twice in November, but Coyne is indefatigable.

“We do a lot of small games in practice,’’ said Northeastern coach Dave Flint, “and she’s the only one who keeps score every time. Everything she does, she wants to win. She never stops. She’s always trying to make the people around her better.’’

Coyne’s 39 goals this season include four hat tricks and two 5-point games. In January, she surpassed Hilary Witt’s 209 total to become NU’s all-time points leader. She’s currently holding at 233 career points (130 goals) in 125 games. Coyne is as fast as any player in the women’s game, probably faster.

It’s hard to imagine where all that power comes from. She’s 5 feet 2 inches and about 130 pounds after a hearty meal and a snack.

“She’s just a ball of muscle,’’ Flint said. “She’s lean and powerful. Even though she’s little, she can lift a lot of weight.’’

“Part of it is definitely genetics,’’ Coyne said, noting that her father was a fast runner and her mother a gymnast. “And part is working at it, building strength over the years.’’

Flint ticks off the attributes that separate Coyne from other elite players, including her competitive drive, her passion for hockey, and her work ethic.

“She doesn’t take a day off,’’ he said.

Coyne has plenty of international cred: She started playing on US national teams when she was 15, is a three-time world champion, and won a silver medal at the Sochi Games. But now it’s all about Northeastern, about challenging BC in the Beanpot and Hockey East, and about trying to reach the NCAA Tournament, something NU has not done since the NCAA took over running the women’s national tournament in 2001.

“We were within hundredths of a point her freshman and sophomore years,’’ Flint said, “and she remembers that.’’

Always a star for Northeastern, Coyne, who took a year off to train for the Olympics, has raised the level of her game this year and taken the Huskies along with her, joined by Denisa Krizova (16-32–48) and Hayley Scamurra (13-24–37) on the top line.

“She’s better at trusting her linemates and using her linemates this year,’’ Flint said. “She knows, ‘I don’t have to do it all by myself.’ She can dish the puck.’’

BU coach Brian Durocher knows well what Coyne can do. She has scored 20 career goals against BU, more than against any other opponent.

“When she’s on the ice, you have to know she’s there and you have to create layers,’’ Durocher said after Coyne broke loose from the Terrier defenders to score twice in NU’s 3-2 victory in the Beanpot semifinal. “Layers are done by having three or four players thinking about defense first, and we’ll worry about offense when other people get on the ice. We did a good job there, but she still found a way to get two goals, and that’s a testament to her ability and her talents, which are at the highest level.’’

Coyne has been seeking the highest level since she was in high school, playing club hockey for the Chicago Mission U19 team. She was so busy with hockey that she didn’t have time for routine high school pursuits at Carl Sandburg High, like going to the Friday night football games. Funny then, that her boyfriend, Michael Schofield, was a football star at the same high school. The two serious-minded athletes never crossed paths in high school but met in the weight room two years ago.

Now, while Coyne is preparing for the Beanpot championship, Schofield has been preparing for a different title game as an offensive lineman for the Denver Broncos. That means Coyne is not only a Blackhawks fan in a Boston locker room, but a Broncos fan, too.

“I’ll take the heat,’’ she said.

“It’s been pretty surreal,’’ said Coyne, “and having his support has been huge for me; I hope I can be the same, and we understand what each other’s going through. You have to be there for each other even if it’s 2,000 miles away, just maybe having a simple conversation, how’s it going? It’s been exciting, and it’s crazy.’’

Like Granato, Coyne came home from the Olympics with a medal, a silver one after the United States had a heartbreaking loss to Canada in the final. Coyne thought losing the gold was horrible until she got home and saw the joy her silver medal brought to others, especially kids. It changed her.

“I never thought about when was I receiving this medal, upset, and I’m crying about it,’’ she said, “and then there’s some kid that’s crying with joy [about it] on the other end. It’s really opened my eyes and helped me become a better person and realize that this game is a lot more than hockey.’’