MILAN — For its first six games at these Winter Olympics, the U.S. women’s hockey team was unbeaten and unchallenged.Yet for the first 58 minutes of Thursday’s gold medal game, it looked unnerved — unable to score and headed toward a stunning upset against its archrival, Canada.Follow along for live coverageNine days after the U.S. had riddled Canada’s defense for five goals in a group-play rout, that same Canadian defense had transformed into a stonewalling unit that had shut out the most unstoppable offense of the Milan Cortina Olympics.Then Hilary Knight, the U.S. captain playing in her fifth and final Olympics, skated in front of the Canadian goal with two minutes remaining in regulation. Knight deflected a shot by teammate Laila Edwards into Canada’s goal, tapping the puck between her legs to send the final into sudden-death overtime and giving the U.S. new life.Three minutes into overtime, Megan Keller of the U.S. pushed the puck past Canadian goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens to end a 2-1 U.S. victory that instantly added another plot twist to the history of women’s hockey’s two superpowers, the only two nations to win Olympic gold medals since the sport made its debut in 1998.“Just epic,” Knight said. “I don’t really have words to describe it. But I’m just so happy we were able to be in the position we were. “We were chasing that game against an incredible team, legends, on the other side of the ice. To find the back of the net in the fashion we did, and for Meg to just do her thing and dance, you couldn’t have written a better script.” It was the third U.S. gold medal in women’s hockey — and first since 2018. The U.S. is now 5-7 all-time against Canada in the Olympics, including 3-4 in gold medal games. Clinging to life only 20 minutes earlier, the U.S. somehow revived itself to produce the gold medal coronation that had appeared in jeopardy for much of the night. U.S. players poured onto the ice after Keller’s goal, turning the ice into an impressionist painting of blue dots, with arms waving and sticks and helmets flying. Inside the mosh pit, “a lot of hugs, a lot of ‘Let’s go!’ A lot of smiles,” Keller said. “This is the moment that you dream of and you work for your entire life.”Losing the lead so quickly, and the game with it, was “crushing,” Canada forward Laura Stacey said. The Americans entered Thursday having won seven consecutive games against their archrival, and the most recent matchup, nine days before, had been a 5-0 blowout. They had outscored their opponents by 30 goals in these Olympics and produced five consecutive shutouts. Unlike past Olympics, lengthy training camps were not possible for either the U.S. or Canada ahead of Milan because players were too busy playing in the 3-year-old Professional Women’s Hockey League. Forced to quickly acclimate, the nations turned to their most recent experience together last fall, when they played a four-game “rivalry series” that the U.S. swept. The U.S. roster was filled with players who were captains of their teams at various levels, from the 36-year-old Knight of the PWHL’s Seattle Torrent to 23-year-old Caroline Harvey, a captain this season at the University of Wisconsin.U.S. coach John Wroblewski was so unconcerned about how the players would mesh that before the Olympics, he “challenged the players to arrive in Milan as if they were competing in an individual sport,” he said. “To be as good with themselves, and to be able to walk around that village with their heads held high, knowing and they’re not just a part of a team, but they, they validated their selection to the U.S. Olympics (team). And the team component of things, I believe, takes care of itself.”Still, if the U.S. felt it had a head start entering the tournament, it still had to perform once in Milan. It did that and more, winning its first six games while getting 30 goals from 15 different players. Defensively, the U.S. did not allow a goal in its last five games over an Olympic-record 331 minutes and 23 seconds. While taking 254 shots to its opponents’ 95, the U.S. did not so much win but instead overwhelm, which made it all the more striking that on Thursday, the U.S. spent much of the opening 20 minutes of the first period playing defense in its own end while being outshot, 8-6. Taylor Heise, the U.S. forward, predicted days before the gold medal game that their group-play rout of Canada from earlier in the tournament would have no carryover to Thursday’s result. That instinct was proved correct. Canada looked nothing like the roster that acknowledged confidence issues after that Feb. 10 loss to the U.S. Aggressive and fast, Canada dictated the pace of play. The most telling example came one minute into the second period, when, despite being down a player because of a U.S. power play, Canada’s Laura Stacey got a breakaway opportunity and passed to Kristin O’Neill just before the goal, leaving no time for goaltender Aerin Frankel to slide over to stop a 1-0 Canadian breakthrough.The rapid-fire sequence represented a piercing of the Americans’ armor — the first goal allowed by the U.S. in 352 minutes and the first time it had trailed in these Olympics at all. It also caused a crowd flush with Canadian-red sweaters to erupt. As the U.S. deficit settled in, the stunning contrast with how the game was unfolding compared with the recent one-sided nature of the rivalry evoked echoes of the 2002 Winter Olympics. The U.S. had entered the gold medal game of that Olympics, having beaten Canada eight consecutive times, only to lose to Canada with the gold medal on the line.On Thursday, although the U.S. led Canada in shots on goal with 10 minutes left in the final period, few were clean looks, their best opportunities largely coming off of deflections after Canada’s defense had bottled up top playmakers like Caroline Harvey, Hannah Bilka and Megan Keller. Canada had focused on “being frustrating,” coach Troy Ryan said. “They didn’t have that much space to make those plays that they usually do,” said Canadian star Marie-Philip Poulin, who had scored the game-winning goals during the 2010, 2014 and 2022 gold medal games.On the scoreboard suspended over center ice, footage played showing up-close shots of the gold medals that would go to the winner. To earn them, however, the U.S. needed to score in the last 10 minutes and overcome its longest goal drought of the tournament. From the outside, it was made more difficult when a penalty left the U.S. a player down for two minutes with only six minutes remaining in regulation. But U.S. players said they remained resolute in their belief that the U.S. had slowly chipped away at Canada’s control.”The second period, when we began building shifts, we knew it was coming,” Joy Dunne said. “We were too good, and we kept believing in each other. Once one came, we knew it was our game.”The U.S. took that belief right up until the limit. Edwards set up for the shot that Knight — only days removed from proposing to her longtime girlfriend, the U.S. speedskater Brittany Bowe — redirected with a tap of her stick. “When that puck went in, I think our whole bench just knew it was our game,” said U.S. forward Britta Curl.Between the third period and overtime, the teams exited the ice to endure an 18-minute intermission. In the U.S. locker room, Knight spoke up to talk through how to play in extra time, when each team would lose one player, making it three-on-three. But Knight didn’t stop at technical suggestions.”Who’s going to be the hero?” she recalled telling teammates. “The hero is in this room.”As both countries lined up to receive their medals, the pop song “Party in the USA” played throughout the arena. It was a golden coda to the Olympic career of Knight, whose goal made her the all-time leading scorer in U.S. women’s history at the Olympics, with 15. “It’s been an incredible ride,” she said.Best week of her life?”I would say so,” Knight said.
