For the first time, the USA’s men’s and women’s hockey teams are both Olympic gold medalists. For each squad, it is their third-ever gold: the men won in 1960 and 1980, and the women in 1998 and 2018.
Until the 2024 establishment of the Professional Women’s Hockey League, there was no professional league for the world’s best women’s hockey players. This meant the only place for them to play was for their national teams, making the USA vs. Canada women’s hockey rivalry one of the greatest in sports. As of the 2026 games, 7 of the 8 Olympics with women’s hockey have featured a USA-Canada gold medal game, with Canada getting the best of the USA in 4 of their 5 golds.
When the teams met during the group stage, it was the Americans dominating our neighbors north of the border 5-0. Leading up to the gold medal game, the USA let up only 1 goal through their first 6 games. Canada came to play in the gold medal game. After an early short-handed goal in the second period, the game remained a toss-up. Nobody was scoring, but chances were being created for both sides. Time continued to tick down, and with nearly 3 minutes remaining in regulation, the Americans decided to pull their goalie for an extra attacker. This choice paid off quickly when USA captain Hillary Knight deflected a shot by Laila Edwards into the Canadian net with only 2 minutes remaining. Shortly into the overtime period, American Taylor Heise passed the puck nearly the full length of the ice to Megan Keller, who slipped the puck through the legs of Canadian defender Claire Thompson and into the Canadian net. Keller’s golden goal won the USA its first gold since the 2018 PyeongChang Games.
On February 22nd, 1980, an NHL-less USA men’s hockey team took on the world’s best non-NHL talent from the Soviet Union in the Lake Placid Olympics’ semifinal round. The USA pulled off the upset in what is now known as the “Miracle on Ice.” Fast forward 46 years to the day, and Americans are up at the crack of dawn as Team USA is gearing up for a gold medal game against their biggest rivals, the Canadians.
After Canada edged out the Americans in an exhibition tournament last year, it felt like the Canadians were near locks to take gold in Milan. Team USA had other thoughts, however. Despite an early goal by American Matt Boldy, Canada had momentum for the better part of the game, almost doubling the US shot total. This momentum, however, was not felt by American goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, who held the Canadian team to only one goal going into overtime. It took only a minute and a half of 3-on-3 overtime for Jack Hughes to put the puck past Canadian goaltender Jordan Binnington, completing the US sweep over the Canadians in Milan, earning Team USA’s first men’s gold medal since Lake Placid.
Now that the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games have wrapped up, the countdown to the French Alps 2030 has officially begun.
