The United States and Canada national teams will face off in the final of the Olympic women's ice hockey tournament at the Milan Games. The Americans secured their spot after a confident 5:0 victory over Sweden, maintaining a clean sheet for most of the tournament. Meanwhile, the defending champion Canadians defeated Switzerland 2:1, with their captain, Marie-Philip Poulin, setting a new all-time record for goals scored at the Olympic Games.
The rivalry between the United States and Canada in women's ice hockey will reach its climax this Thursday during the final of the Milano Cortina 2026 Games. This will be the seventh meeting between these two powerhouses in a gold medal match out of the eight Olympic tournaments held since the sport's debut in the Games program. The Americans advanced to the final in an unequivocal manner, defeating Sweden in Monday's semifinal with a score of 5:0. Goals for the U.S. team were scored by Cayla Barnes, Taylor Heise, Abbey Murphy, Kendall Coyne, and Hayley Scamurra. Importantly, the U.S. team has not conceded a goal in 331 minutes, setting a new Olympic record. Women's hockey debuted at the Olympic Games in Nagano in 1998. Since then, only once have both North American teams not appeared in the final – in 2006 in Turin, Sweden sensationally eliminated the Americans in the semifinal.The second semifinal provided much more excitement, even though the favored Canada faced the lower-ranked Switzerland. The match ended with a 2:1 victory for the defending champions, with the key figure being legendary captain <przypis title=