Women's Olympic Ice Hockey
2026 Olympic
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The U.S. women’s hockey team has advanced to the semifinals at the 2026 Winter Olympics after routing host nation Italy 6-0 in an ill-tempered quarterfinal.
Kendall Coyne Schofield scored two goals for Team USA, while Megan Keller, Laila Edwards, Britta Curl-Salemme and Hannah Bilka each added one.
Team USA, which has never failed to medal in women's hockey at the Olympics, is likely to face Sweden in the semis.
Share your reaction with us at live@theathletic.com and be sure to check out our coverage of all that happened today at the Olympics here.
Italy had six shots on goal total, which means Hannah Bilka singlehandedly outshot the whole team!
USA 6, Italy 0
Team USA has now outscored opponents 26-1 at these Olympics.
The two teams engaged in the customary handshake line here without any of the ill temper we saw during the game, which peaked near the end of the second period.
The Italians then took an extended lap around the rink, applauding their fans and receiving applause as well. This was the first time they had reached the knockout stage at the Olympics.
Four straight shutouts for the United States, spanning more than 270 minutes. Gwyneth Phillips saw two shots per period. Nothing funky happened between the coaching staffs after the horn.
The horn blows here at Milano Rho Ice Hockey Arena ending this one, though it was over a good while ago, really.
The U.S. advances to the semifinals.
Team USA spent a chunk of their power-play time in the third period doing whatever they could to get Hilary Knight her 15th career Olympic goal, which would set a new American record. It didn't work out, but that's something worth watching as the tournament continues.
P3 2:15 – USA 6, Italy 0
A quick whistle denies Bilka a goal, as the referee thought Durante had stopped the puck when instead it was slowly trickling through behind her.
P3 3:13 – USA 6, Italy 0
A fifth power play for the U.S., as Nadia Mattivi is called for an illegal hit on Curl-Salemme.
P3 5:00 – USA 6, Italy 0
Back to even strength now as we play out the string here.
Team USA is 0/4 on the power play today. Something to work on sharpening ahead of the semifinals.
P3 7:14 – USA 6, Italy 0
A bit more of that bad temper, as Kristen Guerriero heads to the box for cross-checking.
The fourth power play for the U.S. in this game. They failed to score on the first three, though did score on 4-on-4.
P3 8:00 – USA 6, Italy 0
There may be no doubt left in this game as to the winner, but the U.S. is still pressing for another goal. Italy is still skating hard as well.
And now we get a bit of pushing and shoving between Heise and Manuela Heidenberger. Nothing rising to the near fight we saw earlier, though.
This period is flying by without many stoppages.
The main reason to continue watching this one is to keep tabs on whether anything dirty and/or goofy takes place. Pretty good shot of that happening, based on how heated stuff got during the second period, but nothing egregious has gone down in the first five minutes of the third. The shot count is now 40-5, though.
P3 18:00 – USA 6, Italy 0
Murphy and Stocker emerge from their penalty boxes at the first stoppage in play. At the moment, no sign of the rancor we saw earlier.
P3 20:00 – USA 6, Italy 0
We start the period playing 5-on-5 despite the fact that Abbey Murphy and Franziska Stocker still have 37 seconds left of their respective penalties after that scrum.
If you're in the business of creating drinking games, "NBC cameras show Kendall Coyne Schofield's husband in the stands" should be worth something. Michael Schofield, by the way, is a former offensive lineman who played 113 NFL games and spent time with five teams over nine seasons.
I have muttered to myself at least five times now that the refs need to get control of this game.
We're seeing a ton of contact go uncalled, including a few big hits on star American defender Caroline Harvey. And then the big scrum after Hannah Bilka's goal to make it 6-0.
Unsurprisingly, Abbey Murphy was in the thick of it and shared some words with Franziska Stocker in the penalty box.
That exchange between the two coaches featured lots of bad words. The officials lost some measure of control of this game late in the second period, and Wroblewski certainly looked like he'd had about enough of the whole deal.
Not only were the players fired up during that fracas following the sixth U.S. goal, but Team USA head coach John Wroblewski and an Italian coach were yelling at one another in the aftermath as well.
Let's see if the feistiness remains in the third period.
I hate to laugh at another's misfortune … but a cameraman just absolutely ate it on the ice during intermission here.
The camera is OK. His knees, however, I can't say.
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