To win gold in the Winter Olympic games, it can come down to just one run, one jump, and even, one goal.
On Feb. 19, the United States women’s hockey team faced off against the Canadian women’s hockey team for the Olympic gold medal game.
Despite the U.S. defeating Canada in the preliminary rounds 5-0, the U.S. was down by one heading into the final period of play, due to a goal in the second period from Canada’s Kristen O’Neill.
That was when the captain for the U.S., Hilary Knight, took it upon herself. After losing 3-2 against Canada in Beijing in 2022, Knight had some unfinished business to take care of.
With just a little over two minutes left in regulation, the U.S. pulled their goalie to add an extra attacker on the ice. Knight utilized this opportunity to her advantage, redirecting a shot off the dime from Laila Edwards to tie the game 1-1, taking the game to overtime.
With this goal, Knight became leader in points for U.S. women’s hockey in the Olympics with 33, consisting of 15 goals.
It wasn’t until a little less than five minutes into the overtime period that a goal would seal the deal for the U.S. Forward Taylor Heise found the puck behind the U.S. goal line and dished it across the ice to Megan Keller, who backhanded the puck into the goal.
It was then that “Free Bird” by Lynyrd Skynyrd would blare through the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena and Team USA would be crowned the gold medal winners.
“When Meg [Keller] pulls her move, I knew we had it, immediately,” Knight said to the media postgame. “This team’s got so much resolve, never quit, always ready to fight and go to battle. It’s just a testament to the preparation of our group, the love that we have in that room, and the way we just have to find a way to get the job done at the end of the night.”
With this gold medal win, it marks the third time in U.S. women’s hockey Olympic history that they have accomplished this feat. The last time was in 2018, for the PyeongChang Olympic games.
Throughout the entire tournament, the U.S. dominated, including their goaltender Aerin Frankel of the Boston Fleet. Out of the 99 shots Frankel faced in the tournament, the netminder only let two total goals in.
“I didn’t want to be the first one to say it. Someone said it before me, so thank goodness, but I just think we cemented ourselves as one of the best U.S. teams in history.” Heise said in the post-game interview line in an article from ESPN.
Throughout the tournament, the U.S. has shown that, yes, it takes a great group of hockey players to go out there and command the ice, but it takes an even better group of hockey players to have great camaraderie with one another.
Heise and her teammate/roommate Grace Zumwinkle in the Olympic village have been posting daily TikToks to keep fans engaged in the sport and what’s going on in the village.
Laila Edwards and Caroline Harvey, who are also college teammates at the University of Wisconsin aside from the Olympic squad, have been sharing their experience in the village by posting TikToks for fans as well.
Aside from their social media presence, Harvey and Edwards made history at this year’s Olympics, besides winning the gold medal. Harvey, at just 23 years old, was named the Most Valuable Player. Throughout the tournament, the New Hampshire native drew up nine points, with two goals and seven assists.
Edwards made history as the first African American woman to win a gold medal in the Olympics Ice Hockey tournament.
To put a cherry on top of all of these accolades for women’s hockey, the gold medal game became the most viewed women’s hockey game in history, with a total of 7.7 million viewers, according to NBC.
If that number isn’t any indication, it shows that everyone watches women’s sports. We are lucky enough to live in a time where women’s sports are vastly growing and growing. It’s up to us as fans to support our fellow women’s athletes, as they keep breaking the glass ceiling and keep going for gold.