MILAN — Gold and glory will be on the line for the U.S. women’s hockey team against Canada on Thursday. But they are also one win away from capping a historic run to the finale of the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics.
The Americans have set the bar, and they’ve set it high.
Anything less than stepping up onto the top of the podium would be shocking at this point. This has been their tournament, in which zero opponents — including the Canadians in group play — have come close to challenging them.
That could make this a mental challenge more than anything.
Getting in their own way seems like the only way Team USA doesn’t emerge victorious.
“I think we get the job done [Thursday] night, that statement [that we’re the best U.S. women’s team] holds true,” Kendall Coyne Schofield said after practice Wednesday. “We gotta execute tomorrow. There’s a lot on the line. But at the end of the day, [Thursday’s] outcome will help define [if we’re the best].”
If any team was going to deny the Americans their third Olympic gold, it’s Canada — the team they had to beat for their last gold medal at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games. However, no one would know that from their first meeting of the tournament on Feb. 10.
The gap between the two nations was sizable. A veteran Canadian team struggled to keep up with the energetic Americans. It resulted in a 5-0 loss for Canada, which counts as its only loss of the tournament after handily defeating almost every other opponent.
2026 WINTER OLYMPICS
Team Canada was missing injured captain, Marie-Philip Poulin, when they faced the USA, but it wasn’t a game in which one player would’ve made a difference. Even one of Poulin’s abilities and status as the all-time leading goal scorer in Olympic women’s hockey.
Schofield acknowledged that Canada is an “extremely different” team with Poulin on the ice.
That may be true, but U.S. head coach John Wroblewski doesn’t want his team to focus on that fact.
“It cannot be about one player,” Wroblewski said. “Canada has a decade and a half of players to work from, so do we. It can’t be about one player, shutting down one player. I feel like if you hone in on one target and try to eliminate that, something else is gonna pop up. There’s problems up and down that lineup for us. We need to concentrate first and foremost on connecting our forecheck, getting our [third forward], our D gap, breaking it up the ice so they can’t build team speed and we can utilize our breakout connection as opposed to disconnect with them changing out of sync and us in sync.
“Then the offensive game opens up off that. It’s a real simple recipe, but it’s going to be hard to break. That’s a hell of a team over there with a connection of players that we know exactly what they’re going to do. They’re going to come out and compete and compete and compete. It’s going to be an unbelievable task to try to withstand that roster. I’ve said it for a long time. That roster can do damage. … It’s a one-game set. Unfortunately, it doesn’t matter what we’ve done before.”
Carrying a record shutout streak of 331 minutes and 23 seconds into the gold medal game, Team USA hasn’t conceded a goal since the second period of their first game of the tournament against Czechia.
That’s five consecutive shutout wins and a 31-1 scoring edge for those counting at home.
Another decisive win would signify that this U.S. team is the real deal.
For their 36-year-old captain, who is participating in her fifth and final Olympic Games, it’s about a proper sendoff as well.
Hilary Knight is poised to become the first American hockey player to win five Olympic medals, a legendary run that began in Vancouver in 2010.
“I just wanted to find ourselves in the gold medal game,” Knight said when asked if it was fitting for her last Olympic game to come against Canada. “Obviously, you want to win the last game of the year. This is the last one for us. I’m super grateful with the way that we’ve navigated this tournament. The way we’ve been battle-tested this last quad.
“It’s been awesome to be able to lead a group like this and be a part of it like this. So it’s only fitting that we put ourselves in an opportune position.”
