The future is shiny for Olympic gold medal successful U.S. girls’s hockey

MILAN — Hayley Scamurra is 31 years outdated. She is now a two-time Olympian and has received six world championship medals (three gold, three silver). And she’s not afraid to say it: The 2026 U.S. girls’s Olympic hockey workforce is the very best workforce she’s ever performed on.

“Oh yeah,” Scamurra stated. “100%.”

As first-time Olympian Taylor Heise walked by means of the interview line, with a brand new gold medal round her neck, she too could not cease gushing about her workforce’s expertise.

“I didn’t want to be the first one to say it. Someone said it before me, so thank goodness,” Heise stated. “But I just think we cemented ourselves as one of the best U.S. teams in history.”

“I didn’t want to put more pressure on us by saying we’re the best hockey team in the world,” captain Hilary Knight stated. “but I truly felt that at every step.”

Meghan Duggan is a Hockey Hall of Famer and captained the final U.S. workforce to win a gold medal. She has much more perspective.

“This is the most dominant team I’ve ever seen,” Duggan stated. “In all my years watching and playing, I’ve never seen a team like that.”

The query now — after the U.S. girls’s workforce dominated its 2026 Olympics with a 7-0 file, successful gold whereas outscoring groups 33-2 — is not only how particular it’s, but when it would go on a dynastic run?

“We’re confident,” stated Caroline Harvey, named the MVP of the event. “We’re going to go back and tear it up.”

The remainder of the world have not caught as much as the United States or Canada. The North American powers have received each gold and silver medal since girls’s hockey was launched on the Olympics in 1998. They’ve additionally received each gold and silver at every of the 24 IIHF World Championships outdoors one silver medal for host Finland in 2019.

Early on, the ice was tilted towards the Canadians. Canada received every of the primary eight world championships — together with the primary three from 1990 to 1994 by a mixed rating of 19-5.

Things evened out over time into one of many fiercest rivalries in sports activities. Entering Milan, Canada held the all-time edge in wins (25-23) however scored solely two extra targets than the U.S. (135-133), based on the AP.

“If you look at the depth charts of both teams, who is even in the pipeline to come? The U.S. has the Harveys, the [Abbey] Murphys, the [Laila] Edwards — these women are going to play in a couple different Olympics,” Duggan stated. “And if you look at them now, they’re already some of the best players in the world.”

The two heroes of the thrilling 2-1 extra time win over Canada have been veterans: Hilary Knight, 36, who introduced Milan could be her fifth and remaining Olympics, and defenseman Megan Keller, 29.

But it was the youthful gamers who stole the headlines, if solely as a result of it seems like they’re simply getting began.

Edwards, Harvey, Tessa Janecke and Murphy — all 23 and below — are as a result of enter the PWHL draft this spring, essentially the most spectacular and loaded class the skilled girls’s sport has seen.

Harvey was so spectacular all event, Matthew Tkachuk in contrast her to Bobby Orr. “Crazy,” stated Harvey, who coincidentally wears the identical No. 4.

Hannah Bilka (PWHL Seattle) is 24 and led the workforce with 4 targets. Taylor Heise is the reigning PWHL playoff MVP and is simply 25. Goalie Aerin Frankel, 26, set the Olympic file for many shutouts (three) in a event.

What made the U.S. workforce so particular was its depth and dynamism. Ten gamers registered at the least 5 factors within the Olympics — six greater than any nation.

Canada will discover a solution to reload, however it may take time and work. Management opted to deliver a veteran roster with gamers it was comfy with. It returned 16 gamers who helped the squad win gold in Beijing however left dwelling a few of its ascending expertise — which has turn out to be a subject of debate after Canada appeared slower towards the United States.

“Coming into this [gold medal] game, I think everyone was like wow, U.S. has the edge, and it’s not just going to be a coin toss,” Duggan stated. That’s a reasonably seismic shift — and one the U.S. workforce is hoping they will preserve tilting.”

It would be foolish to predict the U.S. women’s hockey team could be as dominant as the U.S. women’s basketball team — which has won eight consecutive Olympic gold medals and 10 of the past 12 FIBA World Championships. That’s because, as Canada showed in the gold medal game, it has too much history and pride as a program. And of course, talent. It will keep the rivalry alive.

Right now, though, it’s the United States as the gold standard.

“It’s the pace, it is the talent, the hockey sense, the connectivity, the depth, the mixture of the youth. That’s what makes them essentially the most dominant workforce,” Duggan said. “And you marvel: Well, is that simply the pure development of sport? Technology and coaching advances? But this is not the very best Canadian workforce we have ever seen. So there goes that argument.”

Coach John Wroblewski said what made this group unique was it focus and desire.

“The depth stage is one thing I’ve by no means seen,” Wroblewski said. “We as a workers needed to regulate virtually all of the plans that we had. If we had 40 minutes deliberate, they have been demanding an hour and a half. Video periods you could possibly inform they wished extra. It was like Neo within the ‘Matrix.’ They have been simply dialed. And they wished extra info and extra motivation.”

So complacency doesn’t seem like an issue.

“With this younger expertise, we have simply had unimaginable leaders,” Edwards said. “The way forward for USA Hockey is in actually good fingers.”