BEIJING — When Brianna Decker went down during the first period of the U.S. women’s hockey team’s first game at the 2022 Winter Olympics, suffering a broken left fibula and several torn ankle ligaments in a gruesome fall against Finland, the defending gold medalists lost their alternate captain and star center for the rest of the tournament. But they also gained a coach.
“We call her Coach Decks now,” forward Abby Roque says, “because she’s got a new role helping out with everything we need, just being a voice to us all, telling us what maybe she sees in the stands and just amping us up. She really has still had such an impact on this team.”
Petr David Josek/AP
