Milan, Italy (WGR Sports Radio 550) - For the third time at the Winter Olympics, the United States are golden in women's ice hockey. This time around, it couldn't have come in more dramatic fashion.
Thanks to some late-game heroics from the likes of captain Hilary Knight and Megan Keller, Team USA comes away with a 2-1 overtime victory over Canada to claim a gold medal at the Olympics, and finish the tournament a perfect 7-0 record.
After throttling Canada earlier in the tournament, 5-0, in preliminary play, the Canadians responded much better this time around thanks, in part, to having captain Marie Philip-Poulin back in the lineup after missing the first meeting between the two teams with an injury.
Following a scoreless first period, the Canadians were able to strike first with a rare mistake by the U.S. while playing shorthanded.
After a miscommunication between defenders Laila Edwards and Keller at the U.S. blue line, Canada broke out on a 2-on-1 with Laura Stacey taking the puck down the ice and Kristin O'Neill keeping pace. Stacey was able to find O'Neill going to the net, where she then slid a puck past the extended left leg of Aerin Frankel.
Canada was able to match the Americans for much of the contest, squashing a number of opportunities while playing some solid keep-away defense. At one point, the Americans found it difficult to gain zone entry and get anything set up for a scoring chance.
That all changed, however, when the Team USA captain came up clutch for the Americans.
With 2:04 remaining in regulation and Frankel pulled for an extra attacker, Knight set herself up in front of the Canada net for a tip-in goal off a point shot from Edwards. The tip resulted in the puck going through the legs of Knight and over the left catching hand of goalie Ann-Renee Desbiens.
Then in overtime, just 4:07 into the extra frame, Keller capped off an incredible Olympics for the United States with a goal that will stand as one of the best the sport has seen in some time.
After taking an extended pass from Taylor Heise, Keller gained entry into the Canadian zone, put a puck around the defender Claire Thompson, and then put a backhand on net that found its way through Desbiens and across the goal line for the Olympic-winning tally.
For Keller, it capped off a tournament that saw her produce nine points (3+6) in seven games played, tying her with fellow blue liner Caroline Harvey (2+7) for the lead in Olympic scoring. Harvey ended up being named the Most Valuable Player of the women's tournament.
Keller is also part of a group of six players on the Team USA women's ice hockey team to win a second gold medal at the Winter Olympics, which they last did at the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Also winning a second gold medal at the 2026 Games were Knight, Lee Stecklein, Cayla Barnes, Kelly Pannek and Kendall Coyne-Schofield.
In goal, Frankel shined for the U.S. as part of the goalie group that ended up giving up only two goals the entire tournament. She ended up going 5-0 with a 0.39 goals-against average, a .980 save percentage and three shutouts.
Meanwhile, a pair of Western New York natives were part of Team USA and won gold at the Milano Cortina Games this year: Forward Hayley Scamurra of Getzville and defender Haley Winn of Rochester.
Scamurra finished her tournament with three goals on 12 shots on goal in seven games, while also averaging 9:11 of ice-time, often playing as the extra 13th forward.
As for Winn, she finished the Olympics with a goal and three assists for four points in seven games, while averaging 19:07 of ice-time on the American blue line.
Team USA's other Olympic Gold came in the first Olympics that featured women's ice hockey in 1998, when they defeated Canada in Nagano, Japan.
Related
