With the clock winding down in the Women’s Hockey Gold Medal Game between Team USA and Team Canada, it looked like the Canadians would once again skate home with the gold. But then, five-time Olympian and US captain Hilary Knight put her team on her back and willed them to hockey gold.
With 2:04 left in regulation, a fired-up Knight would tip in a shot from teammate Laila Edward to tie the game at 1-1 and march into history. And with 15;53 left in the overtime period, Megan Kelly performed a “dirty drag” move and put the puck past determined Canadian goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens, which left the crowd at the Milano Santagiulia ice hockey arena screaming “USA, USA, USA.”
Classic Hockey Confrontation
In what’s becoming a tradition, the US Women and Canada once again faced off for the gold medal in Olympic Women’s Hockey. And since its beginnings as an Olympic sport at the 1998 Nagano, Japan Winter Olympics, either Canada (5) or the US (2) has been crowned as Olympic champion in the sport. But in three of the last four Winter Olympics, the Canadians had bested the Americans for hockey supremacy.
Entering the game today, the US felt good about its chances after defeating its neighbors to the north in the preliminary round 5-0. But Canada played without its superstar, captain Marie-Philip Poulin, who missed the contest with a lower-body injury. Even with Poulin playing in the Gold Medal game, the US team was riding high, with a 6-0 record and a goal differential of 31-1.
No Answer for Desbiens
But the Canadians came ready to play, outshooting the Americans 8-6 in the first period and looking every bit the dominating hockey team. The outhustled the US team, who were lucky to start the second period still tied with their opponent. But that was short-lived as the Canadians took the lead just 54 seconds into the period on a shorthanded goal by Kristin O’Neill. That broke the US shutout streak at 352 minutes and 17 seconds.
The US peppered the Desbiens with 14 shots in the period, but she was equal to the task on all of them. She was locked in a goaltending battle with the US’s Aerin Frankel, who was also sensational. The third period was an end-to-end affair, still dominated by the play of Desbiens and Frankel.
The US amped up the physicality of their game, but the Canadians seemed to be a step quicker to the puck. When Britta Curl-Salemme for the United States, was penalized two minutes for boarding Erin Ambrose late in the period, it appeared that the sun was setting on the US’s chance for gold.
But the American penalty kill unit successfully stopped the Canadian attack, setting up Knight’s theatrics. In overtime, Keller took a pass from Taylor Heise, maneuvered around defender Claire Thompson, and rifled a shot that slipped through the pads of Desbiens to give the USA the victory and hockey gold.
Dream Week for Knight
Not only did Knight take home the gold, but with her 15th Olympic goal, she set the record for most goals by a US hockey player, breaking a four-way tie with Natalie Darwitz, Katie King, and John Mayasich, who each had 14. Knight also has scored more points (33) than any Women’s Olympic hockey player, breaking the record she held with Jenny Potter.
And to top it all off, on the day before the gold medal game, Knight got on one knee and proposed to her longtime partner, American speedskater Brittany Bowe. About the proposal, Knight said. “Olympics brought us together. This one made us forever.”
