The United States women’s hockey team has clinched victory after victory at the Milan Cortina Olympics this winter. They’ve also completely crushed the competition.
Team USA is preparing for a gold medal match against longtime rival Canada on Thursday after blowing the rest of their opponents out of the water—or off the ice, so to speak. The U.S. are coming off a dominant 5-0 win over Sweden in the semifinals, during which goaltender Aerin Frankel made a record-breaking 23 saves and extended the Americans’ ridiculous five-game shutout streak to 331 minutes and 23 seconds (331:23). That’s good for the longest run in Olympic history.
The last time the U.S. women’s hockey team let in a goal was in their first game of the tournament against Czechia, when forward Barbora Jurickova scored on a breakaway chance in the second period.
Team USA women’s hockey, headed into the 2026 Olympic gold medal game against Canada:
31-1 goal differential
254-95 shot differential
331:23 shutout streak (ongoing)
To put that shutout streak in perspective, the previous women’s Olympic record was held by Canada in the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City (Canada defeated the U.S. for their first-ever Olympic gold medal). In both men’s and women’s Olympic hockey, the 1924 Team USA’s men’s squad held the overall record with a 245-minute shutout streak.
The U.S. women’s side has since bested that mark by quite a bit and could keep their historic streak going with an hour of play left against Canada in the Olympic final. Team USA previously pummeled their northern neighbors 5-0 in the group stage of the tournament.
As the U.S. look to avenge their 2022 Olympic heartbreaker, when the Canadians beat the Americans 3-2 in the Beijing Games, goaltender Aerin Frankel is expected to play another big role in Thursday’s championship tilt. Frankel has stopped 67 of the 68 shots she’s faced across four starts so far, but she has still given plenty of credit to her defense for the team’s ongoing shutout record.
“The team is playing so well in front of me defensively,” Frankel said after Team USA’s rout of Sweden. “They’re making my job easy, making the plays in front of me predictable so I can do my job. And I think we’re all just playing together as a group, and that’s our strength. ... That makes us a pretty hard team to score on.”
The Americans will be hoping to cement their status as arguably the greatest hockey team in Olympic history in Thursday’s testy showdown against Canada. The puck drops at 1:10 p.m. ET.
More Winter Olympics on Sports Illustrated
- French Men's Hockey Players Slam Own Federation for Suspending Defenseman After Fight
- Simone Biles Sent Private Message to Ilia Malinin After Heartbreaking Olympic Collapse
- Marathons on Every Continent. Cancer Research Fundraising. What Can’t This U.S. Olympian Do?
- A Mystery Illness Terrorized Her Youth. Now, Olympic Bobsledder Jadin O’Brien Is Shining a Light
- Amber Glenn Shocked By Surprise Video From Very Famous New Fan
This article was originally published on www.si.com as One Crazy Stat Shows How Dominant Team USA Women’s Hockey Has Been at Olympics.
