Four Seattle Torrent players – Hilary Knight, Hanna Bilka, Alex Carpenter, and Cayla Barnes – are coming home from Italy with handsome little keepsakes: Olympics women’s hockey gold medals. It was a golden ending to an unforgettable week especially for Knight, captain of both the Torrent and Team USA.
In Thursday’s gold medal game, Knight willed her team into overtime with a game-tying goal at 17:56 of the 3rd period. In OT, USA defender Megan Keller faked out Canada’s Claire Thompson with a golden goal move, then slid the winner past Canadian goalie Ann-Renée Desbiens at 4:07 of the extra session to give USA a heart-stopping 2-1 victory.
Amber Searls-Imagn Images
Based on USA’s 5-0 domination of Canada in the round-robin, based on the US surrendering one meager goal against in six prior games, no one not wearing a maple leaf believed the Canadians had a chance. But when it mattered most, they met the moment.
Canada scored the game’s first goal 54 seconds into the middle period, as Kristin O’Neill converted a shorthanded two-on-one. That broke an absurd shutout string for Team USA that had reached more than 352 minutes, encompassing five straight shutouts.
Torrent forward Hannah Bilka, part of an all first-time Olympics trio with Taylor Heise and Abbey Murphy that was maybe the best line in the tournament, almost tied the game. But her shot sailed high. Bilka in seven games scored four goals with three assists. Those four goals tied for the top mark among all skaters.
Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
Another Torrent star, Alex Carpenter, finished the tournament with three goals and three assists. Carpenter was also a faceoff wizard, winning more than 68 percent of her draws.
Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
The Olympics means that some Torrent friends and teammates, for two weeks anyway, aren’t friends and teammates. Like when Torrent and Team Canada forward Julia Gosling (#88) came barreling into the US zone, Torrent and Team USA defender Cayla Barnes (#3) was often there to get in her way. Gosling finished third in scoring for Canada, with 3 goals and two assists.
Canada carried that 1-0 advantage into the final three minutes of the game. Aerin Frankel, the team USA goalie with the unreal .980 save percentage and microscopic goals against average of 0.39, was summoned to the bench for an extra attacker.
That’s when Knight, parked in front, tipped home the equalizer with 2:04 remaining, deflecting a shot from Laila Edwards. Much more about Knight in a moment. For the third time in seven gold medal meetings between the two countries, overtime would be needed to decide a winner.
David W Cerny/Reuters via Imagn Images
On their 33rd shot, Keller’s golden goal made Team USA Olympic champions for the third time, just one fewer than their neighbors to the north.
What was the secret sauce that led the Americans to a dominant tournament? Torrent defender Cayla Barnes provided one answer. “It’s a testament to the pressure we put on teams,” she suggested. “We’re relentless. We do a good job of wearing teams down.” This was Barnes’ second gold medal. She was a last-minute addition to the squad that won gold in 2018 – but no such drama making the team this time.
Bilka and Carpenter each finished plus-8 over the seven games.
And what a way to exit for the Captain. 36-year-old Hilary Knight had said before the Games that this fifth Olympics would be her last. And what memories she made, making sure her team wouldn’t finish second-best. Her 15th Olympic goal put her all alone among American women in that category.
In true captain fashion, she preferred to talk about her team. “I can’t tell you enough how amazing this group is. I wish you could be in the room with us to really experience the whole thing. It does seem that we’re pushing the pace and pushing the style of the game forward with this team, and that’s really special to be a part of. The way that we can kind of just read off of one another, and the way that we play together with such speed is really fun.”
Speaking of “really fun,” in a brief break from hockey, Hilary got engaged. Knight popped the question to longtime girlfriend and Olympic speedskater Brittany Bowe. Both are in Milan representing Team USA. The pair have been dating since 2022, when they met during the Beijing Olympics.
And she got a Snoop Dog Olympic pin – from SNOOP DOG. That prized possession can reside in the trophy case, along with her two Olympic golds, three silvers, and 10 gold medals at IIHF Women’s World Championships.
Is Ms. Knight now going gently into that good night? Not hardly. There’s still the rest of a Torrent season to play, and a playoff push to secure. When everyone returns from Italy, the Torrent’s first game back is Friday, February 27 against Toronto at Climate Pledge Arena.