Hilary Knight (Sun Valley, Idaho/Seattle Torrent) tied the record for career goals by an American at the Olympic Winter Games, as the U.S. Olympic Women’s Ice Hockey Team topped Finland 5-0 in the preliminary round of the 2026 Olympic Winter Games at Milano Rho Ice Hockey Arena.
“It’s so important to be a team that knows how to control their bounces, always cover for each other, and to value every puck,” said John Wroblewski (Neenah, Wis.), head coach of the 2026 U.S. Olympic Women’s Hockey Team. “You never feel like you have the other team beat until you have them down and out. We had to play strong for a full 60 minutes and we got the job done.”
At the 15:19 mark of the opening frame, while on the power play, Laila Edwards (Cleveland Heights, Ohio/University of Wisconsin) carried the puck along the left half-wall before sending a backhand feed into the slot to Alex Carpenter (North Reading, Mass./Seattle Torrent), who fired home the go-ahead tally with a one-timer into the top-left corner of the goal. Megan Keller (Farmington Hills, Mich./Boston Fleet) also added an assist on the play.
Team USA doubled its lead 2:31 into the second stanza, when Abbey Murphy (Evergreen Park, Ill./University of Minnesota) slid the puck across the slot to Taylor Heise (Lake City, Minn./Minnesota Frost) on the doorstep on a three-on-one opportunity, and Heise shoved the puck past Finnish netminder Sanni Ahola. Britta Curl also earned an assist on the goal.
Just 66 seconds later, Keller carried the puck out to the top of the crease from the left corner of the offensive zone and then beat Ahola five-hole with a backhand tally to give the U.S. a 3-0 advantage.
In the closing seconds of a U.S. power play with 10:43 remaining in the middle frame, Knight scored off a short-side snipe from just above the goal line to tie the all-time goal record for an American at the Winter Olympics. Edwards and Keller notched assists on the goal.
Murphy added to the tally with 4:04 remaining in the contest, capitalizing with a back-door tap-in off a pass from Caroline Harvey (Salem, N.H./University of Wisconsin). Heise added an assist on the fifth and final goal of the contest.
Aerin Frankel (Chappaqua, N.Y./Boston Fleet) stopped all 11 shots she faced to earn the shutout for Team USA.
Team USA is back in preliminary round action Monday (Feb. 9) against Switzerland at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena. Puck drop is slated for 8:40 p.m. CET (2:40 p.m. ET) and the game will be broadcast on USA Network and streamed on Peacock.
NOTES: Team USA outshot Finland, 49-11 … The U.S. went 2-6 on the power play, while Finland did not have a power play.
(info courtesy of USA Hockey)
