Calgary 
The latest Olympic chapter in the Canada–U.S. women’s hockey rivalry ended with Canada leaving the arena with silver.
Credit: Leah Hennel/COC
At the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena, the United States edged Canada 2-1 in sudden-death overtime to claim gold at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games.
Kristin O’Neill of Ontario opened the scoring just 54 seconds into the second period. While shorthanded, Laura Stacey carried the puck on a two-on-one and set up O’Neill, who beat American goaltender Aerin Frankel on the backhand for a 1-0 lead.
Canada controlled much of the play early, outshooting the U.S. 8-6 in the first period. Goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens made several stops, including a pad save during sustained American pressure in the second.
The U.S. equalized late. With Frankel pulled for an extra attacker, a point shot from Laila Edwards was redirected by captain Hilary Knight with 2:04 remaining in the third period, forcing overtime in her final Olympic appearance.
Under gold-medal rules, teams played 20-minute, three-on-three sudden-death periods with no shootout. Megan Keller ended it 4:07 into overtime, sealing the 2-1 result.
The final marked the seventh meeting between the two countries in eight Olympic gold-medal games since women’s hockey debuted at Nagano 1998, and the fifth straight Olympic final between them.
Canada had reached the final after defeating Switzerland 2-1 in the semifinals, with captain Marie-Philip Poulin scoring twice to become the all-time leading goal scorer in Olympic women’s hockey.
The team extended its streak of medalling at every Olympics featuring women’s hockey, five gold and now three silver.
Canada now has a total of 15 Olympic medals, including 4 gold, 5 silver and 6 bronze. 
