2026 Olympic
Hockey
Team USA celebrates after Hilary Knight scored a goal to tie the score in the third period of the gold medal game against Canada on Thursday. Andreas Rentz / Getty Images
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Good morning, folks. Three hockey medals were handed out yesterday. Another three await. We’re into the medal rounds here at Red Light, and we’re loving it so much we’re up and at it early today.
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Nearly two full days later, we’re still recovering from Wild Wednesday on the men’s side: four do-or-die quarterfinal games — three went to overtime! — and four countries sent home.
Then, the women’s final between the U.S. and Canada ended in extra-dramatic fashion, also in extra time, yesterday afternoon. (We’ll go deeper on that American gold in just a moment.)
It’s been an incredible display of best-on-best hockey, two of the most compelling days for the sport at the Olympics — ever. And now, we have four nations left for gold in the men’s tourney, with these two semifinals today:
We’ll be covering both of those games live on-site — Canada vs. Finland here, with U.S. vs. Slovakia coverage here beginning at 10 a.m. ET. If you’re looking for a crash course before watching, we’ve got you covered:
If we have one quibble with all of this, it’s the fact that so many of these elimination games could be decided with three-on-three play. As fun as the past two days were, given what was at stake, five of the six deciding games on the men’s and women’s sides involved the gamesmanship and regrouping that’s become common (and problematic) in overtime in the NHL and PWHL.
Jesse Granger wrote a timely refresher on how overtime works at the Olympics. The good news? This year, the shootout has been done away with in gold medal games. So, if we get to OT in Sunday’s men’s final, the teams will play as much as they need for someone to score the winner.
The bad news? Teams have to play three skaters a side for the whole extra frame.
It’s hard to remember now, but when Crosby scored the Golden Goal for Canada at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, the overtime was played four-on-four. And that game was settled only 7:40 into the extra frame, too, so it’s not as if the outcome should have pushed us forcefully toward a change to three-on-three. (The 2018 Olympics also included a gold medal game going to four-on-four OT, but again, it ended rather quickly.)
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It may sound like a subtle distinction, but four-on-four much more closely resembles even-strength play than three-on-three, which frankly could be its own Olympic sport entirely — as in basketball — given how much it changes the game.
I was even wondering after watching these five overtime games if countries may start picking rosters specifically with three-on-three in mind, and if that’s the direction we really want things to go internationally.
So, here’s one person hoping we escape today’s semifinals without a shootout, as that’s still a (terrible) possibility — and hoping the gold medal game is decided in regulation instead of an OT with only six skaters on the ice.
🥉 Bronze medal: 2:40 p.m. ET tomorrow
🥇 Gold medal: 8:10 a.m. ET Sunday
📆 Full Olympics schedule here.
All tournament long, this American women’s team felt inevitable. Frankly, it seemed that way coming into the Games, too, given how it had owned Canada of late.
This U.S. team was younger, bigger, faster — a new generation that, remarkably, outscored the tournament field 31-1 through six games coming into yesterday’s final. Its run of play had been very lopsided, too, as it piled up 43 shots per game to just 15 against.
More than just close, however, the gold medal game became a true nail-biter, with Canada riding a 1-0 lead from early in the second period until two minutes remained in regulation. Then, U.S. star Hilary Knight tied it with the goalie pulled and, in the process, set two career records: most goals (15) and points (33) for Team USA at the Olympics.
It took only four minutes of three-on-three for Megan Keller to close out the comeback, giving the Americans a 2-1 win and their third gold medal. It was only their second gold since 1998 in Nagano.
These Games felt like a changing of the guard, especially for Canada, with a lot of players likely playing in their final Olympics. Is this it for the greatest women’s hockey player ever, Marie-Philip Poulin? And will the Canadians have a young wave coming that can challenge the U.S?
Some closing notes on the women’s tournament:
The Athletic’s Hailey Salvian did a wonderful job with analysis on CBC and covering the tournament for us throughout. You can find the archive of all her stories here.
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The goal-scoring leader in the Olympic men’s tournament is, somewhat incredibly, 19-year-old Canadian star Macklin Celebrini, who has five tallies in four games.
Only four players have ever had more than that at an NHL-attended Olympic tournament, including one who holds the record after scoring nine goals (with zero assists) at the Nagano Games. All four were NHL stars who are now retired, and all four won silver the year they scored six-plus.
Question: Which Hall of Famer set the record back in 1998?
Bonus: Who are the other three players who have scored six goals in one Olympic tournament? (Hint: They did it in 2002 or 2006, and their countries are still alive at these Games.)
Answers at the bottom.
The Athletic has a small army of staff on the ground in Milan, including hockey writers Hailey Salvian, Michael Russo, Pierre LeBrun, Arpon Basu and Mark Lazerus. You can find the hub for all of our hockey coverage here. Looking for other Olympic sports? Our live coverage of today’s action is here.
🧮 Dom Luszczyszyn busts out his abacus for a deep statistical dive on the Olympics so far, including the eye-popping numbers Canada’s men have produced with their star power and depth.
📰 How the heck did a struggling AHL goalie lead Slovakia to the medal rounds? I love stories like this one about Samuel Hlavaj.
🧑⚖️ Rules Court is back in session. Which Olympic hockey rules should the NHL adopt?
🏒 I’m taking your questions until the end of the week if you have anything on your mind. Feel free to get creative.
📖 Read about the NHL’s first-ever all-Black line in the latest excerpt from “Black Aces: Essential Stories from Hockey’s Black Trailblazers” by The Athletic’s Julian McKenzie.
🎤 On the latest episode of “The Athletic Hockey Show,” we recapped the women’s Olympic tournament live after Team USA took home the gold. Plenty more reactions and recaps to come through the end of the men’s tournament.
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🤔 What is life like for an NHL player in the Olympic village? Michael Russo describes encounters in the dining hall and more experiences.
Hopefully you had enough hints to get some of these …
The answer to the main question is Russia’s Pavel Bure, pictured, who blitzed the event with an unheard-of nine goals in the 1998 Olympic tournament — including five (!) in a semifinal against Finland — even as the Russians lost 1-0 to the Czechs in the final.
Answer to the bonus question: The three other NHLers who have scored six goals at a single Olympics were John LeClair for the U.S. in 2002 and Teemu Selanne and Olli Jokinen for Finland in 2006.
So, yes, Celebrini can become the first Canadian to ever do so with a goal in his next two games.
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James Mirtle is a senior writer covering the NHL for The Athletic. James joined The Athletic as the inaugural editor in Canada in 2016 and served as senior managing editor of The Athletic NHL for four years. Previously, he spent 12 years as a sportswriter with The Globe and Mail. A native of Kamloops, B.C., he appears regularly on Sportsnet 590 The Fan and other radio stations across Canada. Follow James on Twitter @mirtle
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