Winter Olympics 2026: U.S. women’s hockey sends message, blows out Canada in Milan

MILAN — The U.S. women’s hockey team made an emphatic statement Tuesday night.

The Americans cemented themselves as the team to beat at these Olympics with a 5-0 blowout of Canada in a highly anticipated rivalry game that likely doubled as a preview of next week’s gold-medal match.

After the U.S. outscored its first three group-stage opponents by a combined score of 15-1, Canada was supposed to provide a tougher challenge. Instead, the Americans scored in the opening four minutes of the game, built a two-goal lead by the end of the first period and soon turned a showdown into a blowout.

“We’re playing a good brand of hockey and we’re sticking to it,” U.S. defender Laila Edwards said. “We’ve got a great group that is playing really well together.”

The outcome of Tuesday’s game clinched the No. 1 seed in the knockout round for the U.S. and set up a quarterfinal matchup with host Italy. That game has the potential to get ugly in a hurry considering the U.S. clobbered its four group-stage opponents by a combined score of 20-1 and Italy trails well behind each of those teams in the International Ice Hockey Federation’s world rankings.

The glaring difference between the U.S. and Canada on Tuesday was the disparity in team speed and firepower. With captain Marie-Philip Poulin out with a lower-body injury, Canada struggled to generate many threatening scoring chances and lacked a quarterback on the power play. Conversely, the Americans showcased their attacking depth, finding the back of the net five times despite stars Hilary Knight, Kendall Coyne Schofield and Alex Carpenter going goal-less.

The player whose fingerprints were all over this win was Abbey Murphy. The dynamic young American star assisted on three of the U.S.’s five goals, none more impressive than the no-look, behind-the-back pass that set up Hannah Bilka near the end of the first period. Murphy also repeatedly got under the skin of the Canadians and drew penalties that led to four American power-play opportunities.

“She’s an unbelievable player,” U.S. defender Caroline Harvey said. “She can fill any role. Obviously she drew four penalties and she got us on the board getting those assists. She really does it all for us.”

The outcome of Tuesday’s game clinched the No. 1 seed in the knockout round for the U.S. and set up a quarterfinal matchup with host Italy. That game has the potential to get ugly in a hurry considering the U.S. clobbered its four group-stage opponents by a combined score of 20-1 and Italy trails well behind each of those teams in the International Ice Hockey Federation’s world rankings.

For decades, the hierarchy at the top of women’s hockey has been Canada, the U.S. and then everyone else. One of the North American powers has captured gold at all seven Olympics to feature women’s hockey and all 24 world championships. With few exceptions, the rest of the world has essentially battled it out for third place.

Nothing that has happened so far in Milan would suggest that the gulf is closing. The U.S. blitzed its three non-Canada group-stage opponents by a combined score of 15-1. Canada outscored its first two non-U.S. opponents by a combined score of 9-1 with a game against Finland left to play.

Canada has won five of seven Olympic golds and narrowly leads the all-time series, but the U.S. has enjoyed the upper hand in the rivalry recently. The Americans edged the Canadians in overtime in the gold-medal match at last year’s world championships and then convincingly swept four Rivalry Series matchups earlier this winter by a combined score of 24-7.

If anything, that made Tuesday’s matchup more urgent for Canada. And yet the Canadians weren’t competitive.

Maybe Poulin returning in time for a potential gold-medal match would be a difference maker for Canada, but the gap between the two teams Tuesday night looked like it was bigger than any one player.