USA's women's ice hockey team will go for Olympic gold after beating Team Sweden in the semifinals in Milan.
As expected, Team USA will go for gold at the 2026 Olympic women's hockey tournament after beating Sweden in the semifinals. Sweden put up a better fight than many expected, but it was USA earning a 5-0 win over Sweden to advance to the gold medal game.
Just over five minutes into the first period, Cayla Barnes took a puck at the point and beat Ebba Svensson Traff high on the glove side with a wrist shot to give USA a 1-0 lead.
After USA fired the first 12 shots of the game, Sweden settled in and started to fight back, exiting the first period down only 1-0.
Despite outshooting the Americans 13-11 in the second period, Sweden was unable to crack Aerin Frankel. Instead, it was Team USA who extended their lead significantly in the second.
On a 2-on-1, Hannah Bilka entered the zone and hit Taylor Heise with a perfect pass before Heise's shot found a way through Svensson Traff. Six minutes later, Abbey Murphy made it 3-0 for USA firing from near the goal line going high short side over Svensson Traff.
Less than a minute later, Laila Edwards fired a shot from the point which Kendall Coyne Scofield got her stick on to make it 4-0. Following the goal, Sweden made a goaltending change looking to shift momentum with Emma Soderberg in net.
Just over a minute later, Hayley Scamurra scored her third of the tournament to put USA up 5-0 beating Soderberg. Less than 30 seconds after the goal, Abbey Murphy ran Emma Soderberg behind Sweden's net as tensions continued to rise.
Sweden had their opportunities in the game with USA outshooting them 34-23, but ultimately Aerin Frankel posted the shutout sending USA to the gold medal game with a 5-0 win.