U.S. Women's Hockey Wins 2018 Olympic Gold

Exactly 38 years to the day that the Miracle on Ice occurred in Lake Placid, the U.S. Women’s Hockey Team won their first Olympic gold medal in 20 years with a 3-2 shootout victory over archrival Canada at the XXIII Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Maddie Rooney (Minnesota Duluth) finished with 29 saves through regulation and a 20-minute overtime, and then stopped four of six attempts in the shootout to lock up America’s first women’s hockey gold medal since 1998 in Nagano, Japan. Canada had won the last four gold medals since then, including three via a championship game victory against the Americans. Canada had also defeated the U.S., 2-1, in a preliminary-round contest last week.

Hilary Knight (Wisconsin) opened the scoring with a power-play goal in the first period, but Canada took the lead on second-period scores by Haley Irwin (Minnesota-Duluth) and Marie-Philip Poulin (Boston University). The Americans then tied the game on a third-period breakaway tally by Monique Lamoureux-Morando (North Dakota), before the two teams played a scoreless 4-on-4 overtime.  The U.S. outshot Canada, 42-31, through 80 minutes of play.

In the shootout, Canada got goals from Meghan Agosta (Mercyhurst) and Melodie Daoust (McGill), while Gigi Marvin (Minnesota), Amanda Kessel (Minnesota) and Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson (North Dakota) connected for Team USA.  Rooney then stopped Agosta on her second attempt to ice gold for the Americans.