MILAN – Undefeated Team USA, which has run through this women’s hockey tournament in spectacular and untested fashion so far, is heading to the Olympic gold medal game with another one-sided win, this time by a margin of 5-0 against Sweden on Monday.
The sixth-ranked Swedes punched their ticket to the semifinals after pulling off an upset over the Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, in the quarterfinals. There was a bit of gamesmanship from Swedish coach Ulf Lundberg heading into the game, telling the Associated Press, “I don’t really think that the U.S. team wants to meet us right now.”
The Swedes worked hard to keep this close, but the United States hardly seemed intimidated, with yet another dominant performance starting with Cayla Barnes’ goal five minutes after puck drop. They got goals from five players, a fifth consecutive shutout and a sixth consecutive win in a tournament where they have outscored six teams by a combined 31-1.
Their shutout streak is now 331 minutes, 23 seconds, and they haven’t allowed a goal since the second period of their first game against Czechia on Feb. 5. The Americans have scored at least five goals in all six of their games.
“I think we’re a phenomenal team,” veteran defender Lee Stecklein, who won gold in 2018, said. “We’re skilled and fast and all of that is great, but the game in front of you is a whole new thing. So it’s really important for us to reset and know that we’re going to be facing something we’ve never faced as a team before and be really ready to meet that challenge.”
Barnes, Taylor Heise, Abbey Murphy, Kendall Coyne Schofield and Hayley Scamurra scored for the Americans. Aerin Frankel was tested more than usual and turned away all 21 shots she faced for her third shutout of the tournament, the most of any goaltender in a single Olympic tournament.
“We’ve been blocking so many shots, (my teammates) are in the right places. They’re taking away those cross-ice plays and keeping my job easy,” said Frankel. “We just have so much skill defensively — even when you think there isn’t a play out of the zone, they find a way to break it out. So it’s just an honor to play behind them.”
Sweden will still have a chance to get on the Olympic podium in a bronze medal game against the losing team of Monday’s second semifinal between Canada and Switzerland. The winner will face the U.S. in the championship game on Feb. 19.
“It’s one shot for gold,” Stecklein, the three-time Olympian, said. “And then if you don’t get it, you have to wait four years, if you’re lucky to be there again. So it’s a whole different sort of pressure. I think this group is ready.”
Americans once again break out in the second period
The Americans reached this point of the tournament by outscoring their opponents dramatically, so Sweden seemed determined not to let this one get away early. Throughout the first period, the Swedes packed the house and played five-on-five almost like a penalty kill, trying to keep the U.S. to the outside. And they were more than willing to sacrifice their own opportunities to do so. They were outshot 13-2, not getting their first shot until more than 11 minutes into the game, and getting their second in the final minute of the period.
After making it through the first down just 1-0, thanks in large part to goaltender Ebba Svensson Träff, the Swedes seemed emboldened to start the second. They came out far more aggressive and outshot the Americans 8-2 to open the period. A Scamurra tripping penalty gave Sweden its best chance to break through against Frankel, but the U.S. remained perfect on the penalty kill for the tournament, improving at the time to 9-for-9.
A little more than a minute later, Heise banked in a Hannah Bilka pass off Svensson Träff to make it 2-0, essentially ending the Swedish threat. Like they’ve done all tournament, the Americans pulled away in the period, scoring three goals in less than three minutes to close out the middle frame with a 5-0 lead. Svensson Träff was ultimately pulled after allowing the game’s fourth goal.
Strong game for Heise line
The Bilka-Heise-Murphy line has been one of the United States’ best throughout the Olympics (with a combined 18 points) and the trio once again combined to break this game wide open.
Heise got things started by squeezing a shot through Svensson Träff’s leggs off a two-on-one pass with Bilka to give the Americans an insurance goal. Then Murphy quickly made it 3-0 to open up the floodgates.
There aren’t too many players who would attempt the shot Murphy took. There are even fewer who could make it.
Murphy took a feed from Bilka below the right faceoff dot, but rather than wheel around the net or cycle the puck back to a defender at the point, she skated even deeper, then seemed to surprise Svensson Träff with a quick rising wrister that actually made the Swedish goalie duck. Svensson Träff waved at the puck as it went by, finding a barely-there hole between the goalie’s head and the post. It was just Murphy’s second goal of the tournament, but it was a doozy.
“She went backhand to forehand so fast — it was just a perfect shot right by her ear,” said Scamurra. “(Abbey) is just such a dynamic player. Her hockey IQ is off the charts, like the highest I’ve ever seen, to be honest. So (the goal) doesn’t surprise me — she can find those small places to get the puck in the net.”
The U.S. blue line helps lead the attack
We know how deep the Americans are up front, but they are elite on the back end, too, especially with their mobility and offensive attack.
Part of coach John Wroblewski’s offensive plan is to activate his defenders constantly to create mayhem, unpredictability and ultimately confusion by opponents.
“We want to play as a five-man unit, so the more shots we can get from up there, the more chaos it causes in front,” said Barnes.
It’s a big reason the United States blue line has now combined for eight goals in the tournament after Barnes’ goal on Monday.
“We have amazing defenders,” Stecklein said. “They’re skilled offensively, defensively, but it really is the whole team effort. When you have our forwards playing like they are, creating turnovers, hunting pucks down, it makes our jobs really easy. So really fun to be able to play with a collective group out there.”
Edwards’ many fans
When Edwards set up her fifth goal of the Olympics — this time a deflection by Kendall Coyne Schofield — television broadcast cameras almost immediately panned to the audience, where Super Bowl champion Jason Kelce and his wife, Kylie, were cheering on “the Queen of Cleveland.”
Edwards, 22, grew up in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, the same suburb of Cleveland as Jason and Travis Kelce, who have been supportive of Edwards’ career for years now.
The pair first gave Edwards a shout-out on their widely popular “New Heights” podcast when she became the first Black woman to make the U.S. women’s national team in November 2023. Then, leading into the Olympics, Edwards revealed the Kelces donated $10,000 to a GoFundMe that was set up to help send the Edwards family to the Olympics.
Her mom Charone, sister Chayla, grandmother Ernestine, and some aunts and cousins made it to Milan. So did Jason and Kylie Kelce, as part of a big support system for one of the rising stars of women’s hockey.
