U.S. Women Win on the Ice at the Olympics

It was a great day for U.S. women on the ice at the Winter Olympics.

The women’s hockey team had been totally dominant from Day 1 of the competition winning all six of its games, and allowed a total of one goal in those six games. The U.S. played Canada for the gold medal on February 19th; the Americans had beaten their neighbors to the north earlier in the Games, but that was then, this was for the championship.

The U.S. trailed 1-0 with under three minutes left in regulation, and it was beginning to look like the U.S. would end up with the silver after allowing just two goals in seven games. It was getting down to desperation time; Team USA pulled its goalie for another skater. The move paid off, as 36 year old team captain Hilary Knight redirected a shot from Laila Edwards with 2:04 left, tying the score at 1-1. It stayed that way until the end of the third period, sending the game to overtime. The game would be decided by the next goal.

That next goal was scored four minutes and seven seconds into overtime by Team USA’s Megan Keller. The U.S. women had won their third hockey gold medal (the others were in 1998, the first year of the women’s competition, and 2018). Canada has won the other five golds; the two North American nations have set the standard for the rest of the world.

Link to highlights of the championship game

Also on the ice: Alysa Liu became the first U.S. woman to win the gold medal in individual figure skating since 2002 when Sarah Hughes won it, and the first medal of any kind in the event since Sasha Cohen won silver in 2006. Liu was a two time U.S. champion who was on the 2022 team at the Beijing Games, and finished sixth. She decided to retire from the sport (weird saying a 16 year old ‘retired’) citing burnout, but after a two year hiatus, decided to return. The break did a world of good. She won the world championship last year, and now has an Olympic gold medal to add to that (actually, two golds; she was part of the U.S. team in the figure skating team event earlier in the Games). Her comeback is complete.

Here’s a link to her gold medal winning free skate. Not only did she win, but she looked like she was really enjoying herself.