(UW ATHLETICS) MILAN – Six former and current Wisconsin women’s hockey players took home gold medals with Team USA this Thursday at the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics in Italy, beating Team Canada 2-1 in a gold medal overtime thriller.
Trailing against Team Canada for most of the game, Badger’s Hilary Knight and Laila Edwards connected for a game-tying goal with two minutes remaining in the third period. USA clinched its third Olympic Gold Medal in the team’s history with a game-winning goal four minutes into overtime.
Current Badgers Laila Edwards, Caroline Harvey, Ava McNaughton and Kirsten Simms, as well as former Badger Britta Curl-Salemme all earned their first gold medals as a part of Team USA.
Badger captain Caroline Harvey earned Olympic MVP after collecting two goals and seven assists in seven games. She is the first Badger to ever take home the honor.
Former Badger, and current Team USA captain, Hilary Knight scored the game-tying goal with two minutes remaining in the third period of a 1-0 game – she was assisted by Edwards on the score. With her goal, Knight became the USA’s all-time point and scorer. Knight earned her second gold medal and her fifth Olympic medal overall.
Edwards joined Harvey on the Media All-Star Team, each making it as defenders. Edwards made history at the start of the games, becoming the first black woman to play for the USA Olympic Team, and now the first to win a medal.
Two members on the Team USA staff have UW ties as well. Stefanie Arndt is the current athletic trainer for the Badgers, serving the same role for the U.S.. Sis Paulsen is Team USA’s equipment manager, having been a former player and equipment manager/director of operations for Wisconsin.
Five former Badgers took silver with Team Canada: Emily Clark, Ann-Renée Desbiens, Sarah Nurse, Blayre Turnbull and Daryl Watts. It’s the third Olympic medals for Clark, Desbiens, Nurse and Turnbull and the first for Watts.
Former Badger player Cyndy Kenyon took home a bronze medal as an assistant coach on Team Switzerland, who beat Team Sweden in overtime, 2-1.
The Badgers leave Milan with 11 medals from players – tied with 2022 for the most in a single Olympic games.
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