BUZZER BEATER

U.S. Scores Gold in Nail-Biting Olympic Women’s Hockey Final

Team USA locked in minutes before the game was set to end.

In a last-minute upset, Team USA clinched the gold in the women’s hockey finals at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics. Canada was winning 1-0 for the first 57 minutes of the game, until the newly engaged team captain, Hilary Knight, scored, tying the rival countries two minutes before the game was set to end. In a nail-biting overtime, Megan Keller slammed the puck past Canada’s Ann-Renee Desbiens and the goalie to win the game for Team USA. Canada has won hockey gold at nearly every Winter Olympics for the past three decades, ever since the games began including the sport in their roster. This time around, Team USA was the favorite to win the 2026 Gold after a perfect record, having won all six of their run-up games to the gold medal match. Fans of Team USA quickly grew dejected a few periods into the game when the hyped-up team had yet to score a single goal. Team USA’s players were overall younger and played somewhat more nervously than Canada’s veterans until they scored with Knight’s shot.