MILAN — With the Americans having pulled their goalie and in desperation mode — just two minutes from losing the gold medal to arch-rival Canada — Hilary Knight came to the rescue.
Knight redirected a Laila Edwards rocket from the point past Canadian goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens, sending red-white-and-blue-clad fans in Santa Giulia Arena into a full-throated roar and giving the U.S. women’s hockey team new life.
The clutch goal from the U.S.’ veteran leader took on additional meaning minutes later when the Americans followed it with an overtime game-winner. Megan Keller scored just over four minutes into overtime to give the U.S. an imperfect but resilient 2-1 victory in Thursday’s gold-medal match at the Milan Cortina Olympics.
Taylor Heise set up Keller’s game-winner when she caught the Canadians in an ill-timed line change and sent a length-of-the-ice pass to Keller. The American juked Canadian defender Claire Thompson, created space for herself in front of the net and lashed the puck through the legs of Desbiens.
For nearly two weeks, Knight had been stuck on 14 career Olympic goals, leaving her tied for the American record held by Natalie Darwitz and Katie King. Now the 36-year-old has the record to herself and a gold medal in what is expected to be the final Olympic game of her illustrious career.
A come-from-behind victory over their bitter rivals bolsters this talented American roster’s case as the best women’s hockey team their country has ever produced. The U.S. had flattened everything in its path before the gold-medal match, outscoring its first six opponents 31-1 and not giving up a goal for 16 consecutive periods.
The only goal the U.S. surrendered before Thursday was a flukey one in its opening game of group play. Czechia’s Barbora Juříčková emerged from the penalty box at the exact same moment the U.S. coughed up possession of the puck, leading to a breakaway goal.
“I’ve been on a lot of teams throughout my career, but there’s something special about this one,” American forward Kendall Coyne Schofield said. “I think it’s ultimately how enjoyable it is to be in that locker room and how everyone is willing to do whatever it takes for this team, no matter what the role is.”
For decades, the hierarchy at the top of women’s hockey has been Canada, the U.S. and then everyone else. One of the North American powers has captured gold at every Olympics to feature women’s hockey and every world championships. With few exceptions, the rest of the world has essentially battled it out for third place.
Canada entered Thursday having won five of seven Olympic golds, but the U.S. has enjoyed the upper hand in the rivalry recently. First, the Americans edged the Canadians in overtime in the gold-medal match at last year’s world championships. Then they convincingly swept four Rivalry Series matchups earlier this winter. Then, in the final game of group play in Milan, they inflicted the worst beatdown on the Canadians in their brilliant Olympic history.
The lingering question coming out of that 5-0 U.S. blowout was how much the score was a product of the absence of Canadian captain Marie-Philip Poulin. Was the gap between the best two teams in the world really that wide? Or might the Canadians have been more competitive if they had the superstar who scored the game-winning goal in three previous Olympic gold-medal matches?
Maybe it was the return of Poulin. Maybe it was Canadian pride and urgency. Whatever the reason, the opening period of Thursday’s gold-medal match looked nothing like the one-sided previous matchup.
Hungrier and more aggressive from the start, Canada outshot the U.S. 8-6 and put the favored Americans on their heels. Though the period ended scoreless, the message to the U.S. was clear: This was not going to be another walkover.
The Canadians broke through short-handed less than a minute into the second period thanks in part to a favorable bounce. Renata Fast’s attempt to clear the puck up the boards took a peculiar bounce off the glass and caromed right to Laura Stacey, fueling a 2-on-1 breakaway with only Keller back.
Stacey waited for Keller to commit, then delivered a pinpoint pass. That set up a beautiful finish from Kristin O’Neill for a 1-0 Canada lead.
It would hold up for all but two minutes, until Knight struck.
Overtime in Olympic hockey is played 3-on-3, providing more wide-open ice. The Americans caught Canada on a line shift, allowing Keller to slip in from her defensive position, slip the puck past Thompson, then Desbiens and into Olympic history.
The gold is the Americans.
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