Women's Hockey
2026 Olympic
Hockey
The Americans defeated the Italians 6-0 on Friday night in a game that was incredibly chippy. Elsa / Getty Images
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MILAN — Italy’s women’s hockey coach knew what to expect heading into his team’s quarterfinal matchup against Team USA on Friday night.
“We are happy to be there,” Eric Bouchard said earlier in the week. “They are supposed to win, they are supposed to kick our ass no matter what.”
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Italy played well in the first period, keeping the U.S. off the scoresheet for more than 13 minutes thanks to a stellar performance by goalie Gabriella Durante, who made 19 saves on 20 shots in the opening frame.
The dam eventually broke, however, and the top-ranked Americans punched their ticket to the Olympic semifinals with a 6-0 win.
“I’ve been on a lot of teams throughout my career,” said four-time Olympian Kendall Coyne Schofield, with her 2 ½-year-old son, Drew, in the stands. “Every single day, everyone’s willing to do whatever it takes to be the best that they can be for this team, no matter what the role is and whatever was asked of us. Everyone’s dialed and ready to go.”
Coyne Schofield scored her first two goals of the tournament, Britta Curl-Salemme scored her first Olympic goal shorthanded, and defenders Megan Keller and Laila Edwards added a goal and an assist each.
The game was chippy, with 10 penalties called between the two teams and several big hits on U.S. stars, including a knee-on-knee collision between an Italian skater and American forward Alex Carpenter, who was clearly mad at the non-call. Things boiled over late in the second period with a scrum in front of Italy’s crease after Hannah Bilka was cross-checked seconds after scoring the game’s sixth goal. Abbey Murphy, of course, was in the thick of it.
“That’s something that I will forever hold myself to, especially representing my country,” Murphy said about coming to Bilka’s defense. “I would do it for anyone, any single person that’s in front of the net and gets cross-checked.
“If you know me, I’m going to do something and obviously just it was a little something, but I will never just watch that, ever.”
Murphy and Franziska Stocker were given matching roughing penalties and exchanged words in the penalty box. Meanwhile, on the benches, U.S. coach John Wroblewski got into a heated exchange of his own with an Italian coach.
“That guy’s gonna have our back ’til the day he dies,” Murphy said.
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After the game, Wroblewski expressed frustration with the ambiguity around the IIHF rulebook when it comes to hitting and body contact in the women’s game.
According to the rulebook, “bodychecking” is allowed when there is a clear intention of playing the puck, or an attempt to gain possession of the puck. According to Wroblewski, that “doesn’t even remotely get enforced.”
The U.S. head coach also argued the rules often get applied differently for different teams, putting his team in harm’s way on Friday.
“You just see it time and time again, a team that’s maybe not as deep or skilled — (they’re) allowed to hold up and blatantly break the rules,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s meant to even the playing field, but I obviously don’t agree with it.”
That said, the third period was less eventful, after the team cooled down at intermission.
“It’s easier said than done, but I think we did a good job (being smart),” Edwards said.
While the U.S. cruised to victory, the Italian goaltender was a standout, with Wroblewski stating “the PWHL is going to be calling.”
Durante finished with 45 saves on 51 shots. American goalie Gwyneth Philips made six saves for the shutout in her second start of the tournament, including one on a breakaway when the score was 0-0. It would have been her second shutout in two starts had University of Wisconsin star Ava McNaughton not played the final 1:48 against Switzerland two games ago.
Team USA has held Finland, Switzerland, Canada and Italy off the scoresheet. Only Czech forward Barbora Juříčková has beaten a U.S. goalie in Milan. The team’s shutout streak (271:23) is now the longest in Olympic women’s hockey history.
No team has scored more goals at the tournament than the U.S., which has outscored opponents 26-1 through five games.
“Great defense is a good offense, right?” Philips said. “But at the end of the day, our defense is also outstanding. I know me and Aerin (Frankel) feel so comfortable back there because we know just how talented the girls are in front of us to help us out.”
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As good as Durante was playing, it took Coyne Schofield’s hard-working goals 3:10 apart early in the second period to break the game open. The first one was a bank shot from a tight angle; the second was a beauty slam dunk off a couple nifty plays by Curl-Salemme and Grace Zumwinkle.
“She’s played hockey at such an incredible level and has for such a long time and keeps getting better somehow,” veteran defender and Minnesota Frost teammate Lee Stecklein said. “Those goals, I feel like, are classic Kendall Coyne Schofield goals where she’s just working her butt off.”
That Italy, which entered the tournament as the 17th-ranked team in the world, reached this stage of the tournament was a win for the host nation; China and Korea failed to do so in 2022 and 2018, respectively.
After finishing third in the preliminary round — thanks to a big 3-2 win against Japan — Italy advanced to the knockout stage for the first time at the Olympics.
“No one believed in this group from day one but us, so I am so proud,” said defender Laura Fortino, who won Olympic gold with Team Canada in 2014. “We put Italy hockey on the map this tournament, and we showed we can compete with the top countries, and making the quarterfinals is a statement for us.”
Earlier in the day, Sweden eliminated No. 3 seed Czech Republic with a 2-0 win led by 21-year-old goalie Ebba Svensson Träff, who posted a 29-save shutout.
The win set up a projected Olympic semifinal rematch between Sweden and Team USA on Feb. 16 — the first since 2014 in Sochi. The most well-known game between the United States and Sweden, of course, was in 2006, when Sweden pulled off a stunning upset to make the gold medal game against Canada.
“We’re gonna prioritize our two days off,” Murphy said. “You know, get some rest. Do nothing, chill out, eat some pasta. Enjoy time together. We’re all super excited. We came here for one thing.”
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