At the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, the United States (U.S.) Women’s Olympic Ice Hockey team won Gold against Canada, 2-1 in overtime. In Olympic history, they’ve only won twice before, both in 1998 and in 2018.

Aside from Canada which accomplished this three times, the U.S. was the only country to sweep gold medals in both men and women’s hockey in the Olympic games. As the men’s team won an overtime match 2-1 against Canada during the games this year. 

The game-winning goal was scored by Megan Keller, defensemen, the “golden goal,” four minutes and seven seconds into overtime, breaking the 1-1 tie. 

The winning play started with a pass from Taylor Heise, forward, behind her goal line to Keller. Heise passed the puck to Keller, and Keller took the puck and got past the defense. 

“Heise made a great pass up to me, just saw one defender and thought, ‘why not?’ Try to take a chance here, get to the net,” Keller said in a postgame interview. 

The reaction from the team was immediate, players throwing their arms and helmets up, so spirited that it let Heise know they won without even seeing Keller shoot and score. 

“I probably watched Keller’s goal back like a million times, and every time you just get chills,” Haley Winn, defensemen on the team, said to local reporters at the Boston Fleet welcome-home event.

After the game, ESPN SportsCenter interviewed team captain and forward Hillary Knight, on her thoughts about the experience. 

“This team is just so much fun to be a part of and I’m really glad we were finally rewarded with that kind of success at the end of the journey,” Knight said in the interview. 

The journey itself is extensive with prior training occurring for up to a year as a team before the Olympics. Paired with earlier preparation done one to two years before camps, tournaments and competitions.

ESPN also asked Knight in the interview on her thoughts about words said by U.S. President Donald Trump regarding the hockey teams’ invitations to the White House. 

“I thought it was sort of a distasteful joke. Unfortunately it overshadows a lot of the success. The success of just women carrying for team USA,” Knight said to ESPN.

The comments she is referring to is a phone call between the president and the U.S. men’s hockey team in the locker room after their win against Canada on Feb. 22.

Trump invites the team to attend the White House State of Union Address after congratulating their win. 

“I must tell you, we’re going to have to bring the women’s team… or I do believe I’ll probably be impeached,” Trump said during the phone call. 

The phone call was caught on camera and the video posted online. From this stemmed a lot of backlash towards the men’s team in their response to the joke, most laughing. 

The criticism was of the lack of support from the men’s team for the women’s team when the joke was said. With some having humorous responses and joking along with the president.

However, USA team hockey players Jack Hughes, center, and Jeremy Swayman, goalie, addressed the controversy after the diffusion of the video. With Swayman stating how they should have reacted differently. 

“To share that gold medal with them is something that we’re forever grateful for,” Swayman said to reporters for various publications including ESPN on Feb. 25 in Boston. 

There was a considerable amount of expectation for comments about the situation from the women’s team, from the media and from the public. 

“Women should be championed for their amazing feats and now I have to sort of sit in front of you and explain someone else’s behavior. It’s not my responsibility,” Knight said in a press conference directly after the games on Feb. 26.

Viewers share similar sentiments, saying the emphasis should be put on the win. 

“I think his comments overshadowed the win because it made it about defending themselves and why they deserved to be there,” Mia Rogers, junior, said. 

Rogers followed the 2025 Olympics and took time to learn about the controversy when it occurred.

Both teams accomplished impressive feats at the 2026 Olympics, breaking records that will surely be regarded as treasures in American history. 

“We’re just trying to focus on celebrating the women and the extraordinary efforts. And continue to celebrate three gold medals in program history as well as the double gold from both men’s and women’s at the same time,” Knight said to ESPN.