U.S. Women’s Hockey Team Wins Gold at 2018 Olympics

Primary Source: NPR News

For the first time in twenty years, the United States women’s hockey team has earned a gold medal at the Olympics. They beat Canada, breaking the country’s remarkable success streak. In a dramatic and very close game, the United States won in a sudden-death shootout.

Regulation time ended in a 2-2 tie between the countries, and a 20-minute overtime period did not produce a goal. Jocelyn Lamoureaux-Davidson took the first shot for the United States; in a previous shootout against Canada, she claims she, “looked like an idiot.” Since then, she has been practicing her penalty shots—it showed. With skilled stick handling, she put the puck past Canada’s goalie after changing her direction several times.

As the athletes continued their penalty shots, it became apparent that the U.S. goalkeeper Maddie Rooney, 20, would be the one to end the game. She needed to make one last save, and she did, stopping Canadian Meghan Agosta’s shot.

On the post-save moments, Rooney said, “Everything got into a blur, seeing my teammates sprinting at me. It’s an indescribable feeling.” To beat the U.S. archrival in a sudden-death save is a one-in-a-generation opportunity and accomplishment.

In the previous Winter Olympic games, at Sochi in 2014, the U.S. team lost to Canada in a heartbreaking overtime period. Coming into this game, players on both teams agreed that things were no different—they were hungry to win the title and expected the match to be both physically and emotionally demanding. The U.S. and Canada are the only two teams to have ever won an Olympic gold medal in women’s hockey.