PWHL
“We worked so hard for the past four years.”
Megan Keller’s OT winner gave Team USA its third Olympic gold medal. Bruce Bennett/Getty Images
February 19, 2026 | 6:51 PM
6 minutes to read
A day before Team USA and Team Canada met for a seventh gold-medal showdown on the Olympic stage, Kendall Coyne Schofield was asked if this current crop of U.S. players was the best ever assembled.
“If we get the job done [Thursday] night, I think that statement holds true,” she told the Associated Press.
It wasn’t easy for the Americans on Thursday, but a team loaded with elite talent up and down the depth chart removed all doubt in Milan. They overcame a late deficit in the third period before ultimately triumphing in overtime against their longtime foe, 2-1.
Boston Fleet captain Megan Keller provided some heroics on Thursday, scoring the golden goal at 4:07 in overtime to secure Team USA’s third Olympic gold medal and first since the 2018 Winter Games in PyeongChang.
“Just so happy to be a part of this group,” Keller told The Boston Globe. “We worked so hard for the past four years. We love each other in that locker room. Just a really special group and just couldn’t be happier for us.”
Three key cogs on the Fleet roster took home gold on Thursday in Keller, starting goalie Aerin Frankel (30 saves), and rookie defender Haley Winn (four points in Olympic play).
Former Fleet captain Hilary Knight scored the equalizing goal with just 2:04 left in regulation, saving Team USA from a crushing result after a dominant run through the Olympic field in Milan.
Team USA closes its third gold-medal run with a perfect 7-0 record through the tournament in Italy — outscoring opponents, 33-2, en route to hockey immortality.
Here are four takeaways from Thursday’s impressive slate of games from Italy.
Keller delivers in crunch time for Team USA
It’s been a whirlwind couple of months for Keller.
Already one of the top defenders in the world entering the 2025-26 season, Keller found herself thrust into a leadership role on the Fleet — assuming the role as captain after Knight joined the Seattle Torrent during the offseason.
The results speak for themselves for both Keller and the Fleet since then — with the former Boston College standout playing a key role in Boston’s impressive surge to the top of the PWHL standings entering the Olympic break (8-2-2-2).
Keller’s stellar play on the blue line carried over to Italy, culminating in Thursday’s masterclass showing.
The 29-year-old defender left her fingerprints all over the U.S.’ third goal medal (and second of her career) — recording a secondary assist on Knight’s game-tying tally before ending things in overtime.
A brilliant stretch pass from Taylor Heise was all Keller needed to strike gold — carrying the puck over the blue line and toward Canada netminder Ann-Renee Desbiens in the extra period.
Keller dangled the puck past Canada skater Canadian defender Claire Thompson before besting Desbiens with a slick backhand attempt. As the puck glided over the goal line, a deluge of red, white, and blue spilled out over the USA bench.
Keller led all U.S. skaters in ice time on Thursday at 25:13 and closed out tournament play with three goals and nine total points over seven games.
“I was like, no way she’s going to score that,” Alina Müller, Keller’s Fleet teammate, told the Globe. “And she did. Pretty sick move for a defenseman. We’re going to have a lot of fun back in Boston.”
Frankel stands tall in net
For most of Thursday’s gold-medal showdown, a seemingly inevitable Team USA squad looked mortal, with the Americans’ stacked squad unable to gain speed through the neutral zone and failing to generate quality chances against Desbiens.
Had it not been for the play of Frankel between the pipes, Team USA could have been in a far deeper deficit in crunch time. The Fleet’s star goalie stopped 30 of the 31 shots that came her way in the eventual victory.
Prior to Canada’s Kristin O’Neill finding the back of the net with a shorthanded tally in the second period, Frankel and fellow U.S. netminder Gwyneth Philips had not allowed a goal in a whopping 352 minutes and 17 seconds of Olympic hockey action.
Frankel — who became the first player in Olympic women’s hockey history to post three shutouts in a single tournament — closed out her first gold-medal run with a .980 save percentage during the Milano-Cortina Games.
“She’s unbelievable,” Knight told the Globe of Frankel. “She’s been lights out for us all year. I miss playing with her in the PW(HL), but she’s an incredible talent and I’m so glad the world gets to see it.”
Knight comes to the rescue
It was fitting that Knight — Team USA’s captain who announced that the ’26 Olympics would be the final of her storied career — kept the Americans’ gold-medal dreams alive on Thursday.
A listless game from Team USA was finally snapped when Knight tipped home a point shot from defender Laila Edwards with 2:04 left, knotting the game up at 1-1.
Knight’s tally also made the 36-year-old forward the U.S. women’s program’s all-time leading scorer — setting both the career goals (15) and points (33) record with her equalizer against Canada.
“We definitely had to will something,” Knight told NBC postgame of her game-tying tally. “We came out a little slow in the first, started to pick up momentum in the second, the third, when you have a one-goal deficit against Canada, a great team, you have to find the back of the net, especially against a great goaltender.
“So we knew it was a matter of time just leaning on them slowly — but you can also run out of time against a great team. Fortunate that we have an amazing squad to be able to get the job done.”
Knight — who spent the first two years of her PWHL career as captain of the Fleet — has plenty of other ties to Boston. She also skated for the CWHL’s Boston Blades (2012-15) and the NWHL’s Boston Pride (2015-17).
Fleet’s Müller delivers for Switzerland in bronze medal game
Frankel, Keller, and Winn weren’t the only Fleet players to leave Italy with some Olympic hardware.
Müller delivered for Switzerland during Thursday’’s bronze-medal game against Sweden, scoring the overtime winner for her country to finish third in the international competition.
Müller, 27, found herself in a familiar spot on the Olympic stage. After all, the then-15-year-old winger scored the game-winning goal against Sweden to help the Swiss win another bronze medal during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
2014: Alina Müller (15 years old) scores the decisive goal for bronze vs Sweden
2026: Alina Müller scores the golden goal for bronze vs Sweden
12 years. Same opponent. Same medal. Switzerland’s only two Olympic medals in women’s ice hockey — and Alina Müller scored the decisive… pic.twitter.com/wEechtQjT6
— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) February 19, 2026
“I know I was tired,” Müller told Helene St. James of USA Today about Thursday’s OT tally. “I know the legs were heavy. I saw a little opening and just hoped Ivana saw me and she did. She made an unbelievable pass and I just got rid of it as fast as I can. Then I blacked out. Seeing all my friends coming at me, jumping, tears in their eyes. That’s a feeling you cannot repeat.”
Müller’s tally with just 51 seconds to go in the 10-minute overtime marked the 16th goal of her Olympic career — with only Marie-Philip Poulin, Hayley Wickenheiser, and Meghan Agosta scoring more goals on the Olympic stage across women’s hockey.
“Before that, women’s hockey was not really existing in Switzerland,” Müller told St. James of Switzerland breaking through with a bronze medal in 2014. “Then being so young on that team, seeing how good the other teams are, how good the players are, what athletes they are, I know I want to get there. I want to be there one day. Full circle moment now.
“Every year [women’s hockey] is getting more exciting, getting more physical, more athletic, faster game. The stadiums are filling up. Just a few years ago there would have been 100 people in the stands and it’s crazy to see.”
Müller — drafted third overall by the Fleet in the 2023 PWHL Draft — has scored nine points (two goals, seven assists) over 14 games so far this season for the first-place Fleet.
Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.
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