The United States women’s hockey team is golden. Megan Keller put home the game-winning goal in the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics gold-medal contest against rival Canada in overtime, placing Team USA on top in a 2-1 thriller on Thursday. 

Keller made a fantastic move to get past defender Claire Thompson and pushed the puck past Ann-Renée Desbiens for the clinching goal to conclude the women’s hockey tournament at the Games. Keller’s teammates scrambled to embrace her after she secured Team USA’s first gold medal since the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.

Keller became just the fourth player, woman or man, and first American to score an overtime goal in an Olympic gold-medal game. She joined Canada’s Sidney Crosby (2010 vs. USA) and Marie-Philip Poulin (2014 vs. USA) and Russia’s Kirill Kaprizov (2018 vs. Germany) as the only players to do so.

These Olympics are Keller’s third with the national team. The Boston College product, who plays professionally with the PWHL’s Boston Fleet, finished the Olympic tournament tied with Team USA’s Caroline Harvey as the competition’s leading scorer with nine points. Her three goals were the most of any defender in the tournament.

Keller’s clutch goal put the finishing touches on a riveting comeback effort from the Americans, who trailed 1-0 with just over two minutes to play in regulation. Hilary Knight leveled the score with 2:04 on the clock in the third period, setting the stage for a golden-goal situation in overtime. Knight’s game-tying goal made her the all-time scoring leader in U.S. Olympic women’s hockey history.

The United States has medaled at every Olympics since women’s hockey became an official sport in 1998. This first-place finish is the third in Team USA history.

The victory also improved the United States’ record against Canada in Olympic gold-medal games to 3-4. The bordering nations have met in the championship in all but one tournament, and Team USA reigned victorious in two of the last three.

Thursday’s match was just the second time in the tournament that the Americans needed more than one goal to win a game. They cruised through the competition with five consecutive shutouts after surrendering one goal in the preliminary round opener. The two goals they scored against Canada were their fewest in a game all Olympics, but both scores will live on in United States hockey lore.