Team USA star forward Brianna Decker will miss the rest of the Beijing Olympics after she was stretched off the ice with what appeared to be a severe leg injury in the first period of the team's opening game against Finland on Thursday.
USA Hockey ruled Decker out for the games shortly after the U.S. defeated Finland 5–2.
Decker, an assistant captain and member of the U.S. Olympic team in 2014 and 2018, appeared to get tripped from behind by Finland’s Ronja Savolainen to the left of the U.S. net. Savolainen hooked her leg around Decker’s, and the two fell awkwardly to the ice. Savolainen landed on top of Decker.
“I think it was a pretty sickening moment,” teammate Amanda Kessel told NBC after the first period.
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Per the Associated Press, Decker yelled in pain as she was being tended to by a team doctor. She also was unable to put any weight on her left leg as she was loaded onto a stretcher.
Decker led the United States in assists in their gold medal-winning run in the PyeongChang Olympics. In addition to her two Olympic medals, Decker's resume already includes six World Championship, a CWHL Rookie of the Year, multiple NWHL MVP awards and a Patty Kazmaier trophy, given annually to the best player in college hockey.
Late in the game, NBC's broadcast showed Decker wearing a boot and on crutches.
In the win, Kessel scored one goal and the United States got two goals apiece from forwards Alex Carpenter and Kendall Coyne Schofield.
