US women’s hockey team wins gold medal after Seattle Torrent captain Hilary Knight scores late
Feb 19, 2026, 1:30 PM | Updated: 3:23 pm
United States' Hilary Knight, center, celebrates after scoring a goal against Canada during the third period of the women's ice hockey gold medal game at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy. (Photo: Carolyn Kaster, AP)
(Photo: Carolyn Kaster, AP)
Seattle Torrent and U.S. women’s hockey team captain Hilary Knight prolonged her final game at the Olympics with a late goal, sending the gold-medal game against Canada into overtime on Thursday night tied 1-all.
Knight’s regulation goal set the U.S. up to grab a gold medal in overtime with Megan Keller’s game-winning goal in the 64th minute after an assist by Taylor Heise.
Knight deflected Laila Edwards’ shot past Ann-Renee Desbiens with 2:04 left in regulation while the U.S. held a one-woman advantage on the ice with goaltender Aerin Frankel pulled for an extra attacker. The goal was Knight’s 15th at the Olympics, the most in team history.
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Team USA’s back-and-forth battle for gold against Canada
Canada had led since Kristin O’Neill scored a short-handed goal less than one minute into the second period, ending the U.S. shutout streak at 352 minutes, 17 seconds. Desbiens and Frankel went save-for-save in a back-and-forth game that was far more competitive than the rivals’ first meeting in the preliminary round, when the U.S. routed Canada 5-0.
The Americans romped through the tournament, outscoring opponents 33-2.
The U.S. and Canada have met in all but one Olympic final — the 2006 Turin Games won by Canada — since women’s hockey made its debut at the 1998 Nagano Games.
Knight, 36, has already announced these will be her U.S.-record fifth and final Games, adding a second gold medal to go with her three silvers. The game was played a day after Knight proposed to U.S. speedskater Brittany Bowe.
The defending Olympic champion Canadians have shown signs of age during a tournament in which they lost 5-0 to the Americans in the preliminary round, and eked into the final with a 2-1 win over Switzerland.
The loss to the Americans was the most lopsided and also the first time the Canadian women were shut out in Olympic play.
Canada has captain Marie-Philip Poulin back in the lineup after missing two games — including the loss to the U.S. — with a right knee injury.
Switzerland beat Sweden in overtime in the bronze medal game on another clutch goal by Alina Müller.
Contributing: The Associated Press; Jason Sutich, MyNorthwest
