Women's Hockey
2026 Olympic
Hockey
The Americans trailed for most of the game but survived in overtime to be crowned Olympic champions. Bruce Bennett / Getty Images
MILAN – For almost 58 minutes, the United States women’s hockey team looked to be on the verge of an epic collapse on the grandest stage.
Heading into Thursday’s Olympic gold medal game, the Americans had gone undefeated, scoring at least five goals against every opponent, including in a 5-0 preliminary round beatdown of their Canadian rivals.
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But Team USA trailed for most of the game, down 1-0 to a Canadian team that had fully bought into its underdog mentality. It was only when captain Hilary Knight made U.S. history — with her 15th career goal at the Olympics — that the dominant American team we’d seen for two weeks in Milan finally showed up.
In the end, Team USA overpowered Canada 2-1 in overtime to regain the Olympic title, completing a perfect 7-0 run through the tournament.
To their credit, the Canadians came out with their best hockey of the entire tournament, outshooting the Americans 8-6 in the first period. Canada executed its game plan — to take away time and space and make life difficult for Team USA’s skilled roster — nearly to perfection.
“We knew they were going to push in the first, we knew they were going to give everything they had,” said U.S. forward Taylor Heise. “I think we had a moment of, ‘Oh s—.”
Just 54 seconds into the second period, while short-handed, Canada’s fourth-line center Kristin O’Neill opened the scoring, ending the Americans’ long shutout streak at 352 minutes, 17 seconds.
It was the first bit of adversity the Americans faced all tournament, and the first time they trailed.
The Americans did a better job in the second period, putting 14 shots on Ann-Renée Desbiens, who looked much more like herself on Thursday night with 31 saves on 33 shots in an excellent goalie battle with Aerin Frankel.
Heading into the third period, Laila Edwards — who became the first Black woman to win a gold medal for the U.S. women’s hockey team — said there was a “steady confidence” within the group.
“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy,” she said. “None of us have ever wanted it easy. … So we were prepared for the challenge and we never lost hope.”
The third period was incredibly tense, as we’ve come to expect when a medal is on the line between Canada and the United States. After Erin Ambrose was boarded by Britta Curl-Salemme, Canada got a power-play opportunity but failed to score on a U.S. penalty kill that remained perfect throughout the tournament.
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That set up Knight’s final Olympic moment, a deflection on an Edwards point shot to tie the game with 2:04 minutes remaining.
“Once Hilary scored, there was a consensus on the bench that we were not losing,” Heise said.
The team has spoken repeatedly about being motivated to win for Knight, who announced in May that she would make her fifth and final Olympic appearance in Milan. On Thursday night, it was Megan Keller, one of Knight’s longtime teammates and friends, who delivered, taking a long stretch pass from Heise, deking around Canadian defender Claire Thompson and beating Desbiens.
“I’m lost for words,” Keller said. “This is an incredible feeling. I love these girls so much. This group deserves it. Just the effort and the faith that we kept through this four-year journey is something very special.”
The come-from-behind win was a fitting capstone on a run unlike any we’ve seen in women’s hockey. The Americans haven’t lost a game in a major international competition since the 2024 Women’s World Championship gold medal game, which Canada won 6-5 in overtime. They went undefeated at last year’s worlds and beat Canada in four lopsided Rivalry Series games in the fall. Over the last year, Team USA has dismantled opponents 84-15, including 33-2 at the Olympics.
Meanwhile, Team Canada’s road through the Olympic women’s hockey tournament was anything but smooth. Its first game of the preliminary round was postponed because of a norovirus outbreak on the Finnish national team, disrupting the team’s schedule. Then Marie-Philip Poulin, the team’s captain and undisputed best player, was injured and missed Canada’s final two round-robin games.
At times, Canada looked disjointed and frankly bad defensively. Swiss captain Lara Stalder went so far to call Canada “shaky” and “beatable” after their semifinal matchup on Tuesday, where Poulin once again saved Canada with two massive goals. There were questions about how the roster was constructed, and why Canada didn’t bring more youth to match the Americans.
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“This whole tournament nobody believed in us,” said Laura Stacey. “Nobody thought this would turn into what it did tonight but us. That inner belief, that pride we had for our country, for our jersey and honestly for one another shone through.”
Canada played well, and better than most expected. But it ultimately wasn’t enough against an American team that was built over the last three years specifically to beat Canada in this moment.
In 2023, after the U.S. had lost three straight major international tournaments to Canada, including the 2022 Olympics, it became apparent to head coach John Wroblewski that it was time for a change.
“There’s no way we were going to be able to catch Canada (by 2026) if our older players can’t carry us now,” Wroblewski said. “So then you start considering how you’re gonna circumvent (that) and that’s only through development.”
Wroblewski ushered in a major influx of young talent, adding college stars like Edwards, Joy Dunne and Tessa Janecke to a mix that already included Heise, Hannah Bilka and Abbey Murphy. He gave Frankel the reins in net, and gave star defender Caroline Harvey, who was benched in the 2022 gold medal game, a starting role on the blue line.
In Milan, many of those players took on a starring role. None more than Harvey, who co-led the tournament in scoring, set an American record for points by a defender and won Olympic MVP. Heise and Edwards contributed to both American goals. Nobody scored more goals than Bilka. Frankel went undefeated and posted a remarkable 0.39 goals-against average.
“I’m really proud of the way the program has developed,” Wroblewski said last week.
After losing in 2023 and 2025 — two of the four world championships between Winter Olympics — Canada largely kept the band together, with 16 players from the 2022 Olympics on the roster in Milan. In the aftermath of the silver medal, there will be plenty of questions about how Canada was constructed and why there weren’t more young players on the roster.
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Canada did bring seven Olympic rookies to Milan, including O’Neill, Daryl Watts — who finished tied for third in tournament scoring — and Julia Gosling, who led Canada with three goals. As great as Chloe Primerano and Caitlin Kramer — Canada’s two biggest college snubs — will be for Canada in the future, they likely wouldn’t have changed much against this American roster.
No team scored more goals, or allowed fewer against, than the U.S. Their penalty kill was perfect, and their goaltenders nearly were too. Under Wroblewski, the U.S. has adopted an up-tempo style with a focus on puck possession and the idea that “offense is the best defense.” The American attack can come in waves with impressive depth and decorated veterans up and down the lineup. Perhaps nothing speaks more to the U.S. depth than Kendall Coyne Schofield, who leads the PWHL in scoring, playing on the third line.
“I have to soak this all in because this room is just so special, this team is so special,” said Knight, who has been on Team USA since 2007. “This is the best U.S. hockey team I’ve ever been a part of.”
While Canada put up a good fight, the results over the last two weeks should remove all doubt that we’ve watched a power shift take place in women’s hockey. The Americans are dominating the rivalry like they never have before, with eight straight wins. What’s scary for Canada is there might not be a real reason to think the Americans’ dominance will end any time soon.
Frankel is still only 26 years old and became the first goalie to have three shutouts in a single women’s Olympic hockey tournament. Then there’s Harvey, who is already the best offensive defender in the world at 23 years old. Edwards, 22, was only one point behind Harvey in just her second major tournament as a defender — she plays forward at the University of Wisconsin.
Bilka is 24. And you can’t forget about Murphy, the 23-year-old unicorn with otherworldly on-ice skill and ability to get under her opponents’ skin.
Consider this: By the 2030 Olympics nobody in the young U.S. core will be 30 years old yet. Frankel (30) and Taylor Heise (29) would be the oldest, along with whichever veterans — such as Alex Carpenter and Keller — decide to continue on the national team.
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“People (have said) we’re too young and our youth is going to bite us in the butt sometime and you know, I don’t think that’s happened yet,” said Heise. “This young group is just going to keep getting better.”
On the other hand, Thursday’s game represents the end of the road in many ways for Canada’s veteran core. Four players on the current team — Poulin, Brianne Jenner, Natalie Spooner and Jocelyne Larocque — won gold in 2014. Ten were there in 2018.
While Poulin, who turns 36 in May, said after the game that she had made no decisions on her Olympic future, it’s fair to assume there will be significant roster turnover as we look ahead to the 2030 Olympics in Nice.
Canada’s head coach Troy Ryan, who has been behind the bench since 2021, said he was reflecting on those looming changes in the aftermath of the loss, though he did not disclose who might have played their last game for Team Canada. Poulin became emotional when asked what her teammates mean to her.
“They’re the reason why you wear that jersey with so much pride,” she said. “This one hurts.”
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Hailey Salvian is a staff writer for The Athletic covering women’s hockey and the NHL. Previously, she covered the Calgary Flames and Ottawa Senators and served as a general assignment reporter. Follow Hailey on Twitter @hailey_salvian
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