Ice Hockey, Women

Women’s ice hockey had been contested at the Winter Olympics since 1998, and Canada and the United States had dominated the sport. The USA won the initial gold medal at Nagano, but Canada had won the next four gold medals (2002, 2006, 2010, 2014). The two nations were similarly dominant in international play as they always finished 1-2 at the World Championships, held since 1990.

The United States seemed to have the upper hand in the years preceding PyeongChang, winning the World Championships in 2013, 2015, 2016, and 2017. The two nations played several friendlies in the intervening four years, with the USA also winning more than they lost. In the last few months before PyeongChang, however, Canada won several consecutive games, and the gold medal seemed to be a toss-up.

Eight nations qualified for the Olympic tournament; five of them did automatically by virtue of their ranking by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), two by a qualification tournament, and the Koreans as hosts (their first ever Olympic ice hockey tournament). The South Korean women had trained for several years, with an American coach and several Korean-American and Korean-Canadian players. Shortly before the Games, the IOC negotiated with DPR Korea (North) to allow them to participate and it was agreed that North and South Korea would field a combined, mixed women’s ice hockey team. The team would have 35 players, well above the 23 maximum, although only 22 would dress for each match.

Some of the South Korean players were unhappy, feeling that they would lose playing time. In the end, the mixed Korean team lost all its matches, although it acquitted itself well, and the international goodwill that the mixed Korean team generated made up for any untoward or hurt feelings. The two Koreas competing together on a playing field was historic for the Olympic Movement and the Korean Peninsula.

To avoid Canada and the USA dominating pool play by too great a margin, they were placed together in pool A, with Canada winning the pool when they defeated the Americans 2-1. The top two teams in pool A qualified for the semi-finals, with the third team and the top three teams from pool B facing each other in a knock-out round to advance to the semis. As expected Canada and the United States easily won their semi-final matches, both teams winning 5-0, over OAR and Finland, respectively.

The gold medal final was closely matched, with Canada taking a 2-1 lead after two periods. In the final period the United States’ Monique Lamoureux tied the match with 6:21 left and that score held through the end of regulation play. An overtime period ensued, but neither team could score, so they went to penalty shots. After four rounds that shoot-out was also tied at 2-2, when Monique’s twin sister Jocelyn Lamoureux-Davidson netted her shot, and when Meghan Agosta’s penalty shot was stopped by US goalie Maddie Rooney, the United States had finally won an Olympic gold, 20 years after their first and last one. The loss ended Canada’s record-setting Olympic winstreak of 24 games, but it took a classic to do it.

In the bronze medal game, Finland had a two-goal lead twice and held off the Russians (OAR) in the third period after they had narrowed the margin to one. Finland had now won three Olympic medals in women’s ice hockey, all of them bronze (Vancouver 2010, Nagano 1998).