Sidney Crosby probably never had a day like this.

Two-time Olympic silver medalist Meghan Duggan split an unusual doubleheader that could only happen in elite women's hockey, where modest paychecks require players to work multiple jobs to make ends meet.

As an assistant coach at Clarkson University in upstate New York and a star forward for the Buffalo Beauts of the National Women's Hockey League, Duggan finds herself juggling roles every weekend. It reached a manic level Sunday, when Clarkson and the Beauts played postseason games 50 miles apart in Connecticut.

Duggan hustled to make both, then drove five hours back to campus, getting in well past midnight. She slept fast, and was back in her office Monday morning breaking down tape.

"The crazy thing is, this is pretty much a weekly occurrence," a surprisingly cheery Duggan said Monday in a telephone interview from Clarkson. "That's pretty much the story of my life. A few differences here and there each weekend, location- and travel-wise. This was probably the craziest weekend I've had."

Duggan is in her second season coaching at Clarkson, in Potsdam, New York, near the Canadian border. It's about a four-hour drive from Buffalo. Duggan's coaching duties come first, and Clarkson generally plays Friday nights and Saturday afternoons.

A third Olympic trip remains a goal for the 28-year-old Duggan, the 2014 U.S. captain, and the NWHL's Sunday schedule fit her training perfectly. (Her $22,500 salary playing in the first-year league helps as well.) Clarkson coach Matt Desrosiers gave her Sundays off to pursue it.

Duggan is one of at least six college coaches or support staffers on NWHL rosters, along with Buffalo teammate Kelley Steadman (Robert Morris), Boston's Kacey Bellamy (Merrimack), and Connecticut's Jessica Koizumi (Yale), Alyssa Wohlfeiler (UMass-Boston) and Lindsay Berman (UMass-Boston's interim head coach).

Home games mean long Saturday night and Sunday night drives, which Duggan accepted as part of the deal.

"Right now, I'm so used to it, it's like a 20-minute drive to me," she said. "People think I'm nuts. Drive four hours, play, turn around, come back. My personality is pretty go-go-go. I find a way to make it work."

Sunday's double, though, required detailed planning, a bit of luck, and a lift from Duggan's parents Bob and Mary, who live in Massachusetts.