For just the third time in Olympic history, the US Women’s hockey team has taken home the gold. The two previous wins came in 1998 (the first year of women’s hockey in the Olympics) and 2018. Both wins were against Canada.
On Thursday the 19th, the US women’s hockey team faced off against its arch-rival, Canada, at the Olympic Winter games in Milan. Since the beginning of the Olympic women’s hockey competition in 1998, only Canada and the US have won gold, with Canada leading the US 5-2.
The US’s road to the final displayed dominance, as the team won all seven games. US goalkeeper Frankel played lights out, allowing only two goals. No team scored more goals or allowed fewer against them than the US did.
The final was not the same story. The score was even through the first period, with Canada dominating. Shortly after the beginning of the second period, Canada’s Kristen O’Neill scored, and the Americans’ hopes of a gold medal dwindled. This was the first time they had trailed in the 2026 Olympics.
Things changed with a little more than two minutes left in the game. Hillary Knight, a captain, scored the game-tying goal off a shot by Laila Edwards, the first black woman on the US women’s hockey team. The goal came a day after she proposed to fellow Olympian, speedskater Brittany Bowe, which she said she was more nervous about than the game against Canada. With the goal, Knight also set the record for the most goals scored and points in US women’s hockey history.
Forward Taylor Heise said, “Once Hilary scored, there was a consensus on the bench that we were not losing.” And they didn’t.
Knight’s goal eventually led to overtime. The first team to score wins. Four minutes and seven seconds into overtime, Megan Keller, a defender, made a move and scored a goal to secure the gold.
Caroline Harvey, a college player at Wisconsin who was benched in the 2022 gold medal game, won MVP and Best Defender, tallying nine points throughout the games. Although the team will be losing a legendary player in Hillary Knight, 2026 being her last Olympic Games, the future is bright for the US women’s hockey team.
The US men’s hockey team also won Gold on the 22nd in a similar fashion — a 2-1 overtime victory. Both teams were invited to the State of the Union address on the 24th. The women’s team declined the invitation due to academic and professional conflicts, a day after President Trump joked about being impeached if he didn’t also invite the women’s team.