The Athletic has live coverage of the 2026 Winter Olympics, including USA vs Canada in the women’s hockey gold medal game.
Women’s hockey at the Olympics keeps flirting with chaos, then snapping back to its oldest habit: the United States and Canada in the final, again.
The sport has used different formats since it debuted in 1998, but the ending has been stubborn. Thursday’s gold-medal game is the seventh Olympic title meeting between the neighbors and adversaries — their fifth straight Olympics colliding for gold. Canada is the defending champion after beating the United States 3-2 in Beijing in 2022, and the historical ledger still favors the Canadians: five gold medals to the Americans’ two.
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How to watch USA vs. Canada in the women’s hockey gold-medal final
- Venue: Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena — Milan
- Time: 1:10 p.m. ET, Thursday
- TV (U.S.): USA Network
- TV (Canada): CBC
- Streaming: Peacock, NBCOlympics.com (U.S.); CBC Gem (Canada)
The game will re-air on USA Network at midnight ET Friday.
The matchup is familiar. The route here wasn’t. The U.S. has treated the bracket like a formality, going 6-0 and outscoring opponents 31-1, including a 5-0 victory over Canada. The Americans have now gone 331 minutes and 23 seconds without allowing a goal, a stretch that began in the second period of their opener against Czechia on Feb. 5. Unsurprisingly, that’s an Olympic record.
In the semifinal, Team USA flattened Sweden 5-0 on goals from Cayla Barnes, Taylor Heise, Abbey Murphy, Kendall Coyne Schofield and Hayley Scamurra, while Aerin Frankel posted her third shutout this tournament — a first in women’s Olympic hockey history.
Overall, the U.S. has gotten contributions from everyone. Caroline Harvey, a star in the making, leads the way with nine points. Hannah Bilka is the top goal scorer with four. Captain Hilary Knight, in her final Winter Games, tied the United States’ all-time record with her 14th career Olympic goal.
Canada has had to grind more than it expected. Marie-Philip Poulin, who missed the previous matchup against the U.S. with an injury, scored twice in a 2-1 semifinal win over Switzerland. Her first tied the Olympic women’s hockey career goals record and her second gave her 20, a new mark, and the game-winner.
So yes, it’s USA-Canada again, with the latter having won four of the previous six Olympic gold meetings. This time, though, the U.S. arrives with numbers that make the outcome feel less like destiny and more like a riddle Canada hasn’t cracked yet.
For the enthusiasts: Sweden and Switzerland get the bronze-medal game at 8:40 a.m. ET on Peacock while the U.S. and Canada warm up down the hall. Bronze is the consolation prize that doesn’t feel like one by the third period. It’s a medal, it’s history, and it’s the difference between “great run” and “we came home with something you can hold.”
Previous gold-medal finals between USA and Canada
1998: USA 3, Canada 1
2002: Canada 3, USA 2
2010: Canada 2, USA 0
2014: Canada 3, USA 2 (OT)
2018: USA 3, Canada 2 (SO)
2022: Canada 3, USA 2
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