February 19, 2026 | Women's Hockey
Eleven former and current Badgers collect medals between USA and Canada
By: Jake Ross
MILAN — Six former and current Wisconsin women’s hockey players took home gold medals with Team USA this Thursday at the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics in Italy, beating Team Canada 2-1 in a gold medal overtime thriller.
Trailing against Team Canada for most of the game, Badger’s Hilary Knight and Laila Edwards connected for a game-tying goal with two minutes remaining in the third period. USA clinched its third Olympic Gold Medal in the team’s history with a game-winning goal four minutes into overtime.
Five former Badgers took silver with Team Canada: Emily Clark, Ann-Renée Desbiens, Sarah Nurse, Blayre Turnbull and Daryl Watts. It’s the third Olympic medals for Clark, Desbiens, Nurse and Turnbull and the first for Watts.
Former Badger player Cyndy Kenyon took home a bronze medal as an assistant coach on Team Switzerland, who beat Team Sweden in overtime, 2-1.
The Badgers leave Milan with 11 medals from players – tied with 2022 for the most in a single Olympic games.