Team USA's women's hockey team just added another gold medal to its collection, and the way they did it was about as cinematic as it gets. The Americans trailed Canada for nearly two full periods before staging a late comeback that ultimately ended in overtime, 2-1, to claim their first Olympic gold since PyeongChang in 2018 and avenge their Finals loss in 2022.

For most of the game, Canadian goaltender Ann-Renee Desbiens was the story, stopping 31 shots and looking every bit capable of carrying her team to the title. The deficit came 54 seconds into the second period, when Kristin O'Neill converted a shorthanded 2-on-1, the first time the U.S. had trailed all tournament.

Then, with the clock nearly gone and the goaltender pulled, captain Hilary Knight deflected a shot in with just over two minutes left in regulation. In doing so, Knight became the all-time U.S. Olympic leader in both goals and points, while Edwards, the first Black woman to represent Team USA in Olympic hockey, earned the primary assist and now owns a gold medal for her efforts.

The golden goal came a few minutes into the 3-on-3 overtime. Defender Megan Keller took a feed from Taylor Heise, danced around a Canadian defender, and buried a backhand to end it.

What makes this run even more remarkable is the context surrounding it. The U.S. finished the tournament 7-0 with a combined goal differential of 33-2. Frankel posted a 0.39 goals-against average, including five consecutive shutouts heading into the final, a shutout streak that stretched nearly 6 full hours of game time. She's the first goalkeeper in Olympic history to record three shutouts in a single Games. The penalty kill went a perfect 14-for-14 across the entire tournament.

Defender Caroline Harvey was named tournament MVP and Best Defender after tying for the team lead with nine points. This squad enters the history books alongside the legendary 1998 team as the only U.S. women's hockey rosters to go undefeated through an Olympic tournament. Quite the way to reclaim the throne.

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🏒 How to Bet on the Men's Olympic Hockey Semifinals

by Ed Egros 👉️ Follow on X @EdWithSports

Wednesday may have been the most thrilling day of men’s Olympic hockey we have ever seen.  Three of the four quarterfinal games went to overtime, including upset bids narrowly dashed by the two powerhouses: the United States and Canada.

Looking Ahead

Friday’s semifinals begin with Canada taking on Finland at 10:40 a.m. ET followed by the U.S. battling Slovakia at 3:10 p.m. ET.  Even if the first game goes into overtime, don’t worry about if the late game will get postponed, we still get overtime shootouts at this point in the tournament if no one scores after ten minutes.

As I mentioned before, the United States and Canada have been on a collision course to the Gold Medal Game since the start.  With one game each before fulfilling this destiny, both have implied probabilities of 81% or better to advance.

What I’m Rushing to the Window to Bet

On FanDuel, you can bet the exact order of the top three teams.  The two shortest odds on the board are Canada/USA/Finland (+230 at last check) and USA/Canada/Finland (+310).  I’m torn on who I think would win between the Americans and Canucks, but I trust both take care of business Friday, and Finland then makes quick work of Slovakia given the firepower the Finns possess.  

I recommend betting both of these outcomes.

To me, these moneyline odds for these semifinals should be even shorter.  Remember, Canada allowed a game-tying goal when Czechia had six men on the ice!  It was never called and could not be reviewed.  

As for the Americans, they dominated special teams and 3v3 in overtime.  Sweden was stellar, but the U.S. generated many more scoring chances, played elite defense and was in a better position than the score might indicate.  

Trust the collision course.

Prop Plays

A moneyline parlay for U.S.A. + Canada has odds of -265, so I understand not seeing much value attacking the board.  

However, there are other plays that are much more lucrative.  With the help of Jaxon’s AI tools, here are two other bets I like:

Macklin Celebrini Anytime Goal Scorer (+120)

He’s only 19 years old but leads the tournament with five goals scored.  Why not make it a sixth?

San Jose Sharks center Macklin Celebrini spent the first half of the NHL season showcasing incredible offensive versatility.  He’s in the 99th percentile in the league in midrange shots on goal and speed bursts over 20 miles per hour.  He’s also in the 95th percentile in average shot speed.  

Finland’s defense has allowed 12 goals in the tournament, more than any other team still playing.  Celebrini should be able to light the lamp in whichever way he wants.

Quinn Hughes O0.5 Assists (-164)

The overtime hero for the Americans has actually been more of a facilitator this tournament, having tallied five assists in four games.  

One reason is his speed.  The Minnesota Wild defenseman ranks in the 98th percentile among defensemen with 113 speed bursts over 20 miles per hour.

Hughes also leads his team in ice time per game (23:31), an unwavering stamina he also shows during NHL games.  He should have enough opportunities to generate another assist for what should be a handful of goals for Team USA.

🌲 The Pine Line

🏈 A unanimous vote could take a franchise out of Chicago. The Bears finally found their new home.

⚾️ Players got their first experience with the ABS Challenge System. I’ll miss just yelling at the umps and moving on. 

🏎️ Ever wanted to experience a F1 race in an IMAX theater? Find out if race day is coming near you.

🏀 March Madness could be getting even bigger. Just not this year.

🏒 It didn’t take long for the Olympic participation debate to open up again. Is it really that much riskier than practice?

🥌 Men’s Curling Medal Matches

It’s time for the medal matches in men's curling to close out the 2026 Winter Olympics, and both matches carry a clear statistical lean worth paying attention to. Here's how the final day of competition breaks down.

Bronze Medal Match: Switzerland (-350) vs. Norway

Switzerland was the big story of the round-robin stage, going a perfect 9-0 through preliminary play. That's the first unbeaten round-robin from a men's team at the Olympics since 2010. Led by skip Yannick Schwaller, the Swiss have been the most defensively suffocating team in the field, allowing just 4.1 points per game on average while scoring at 7.2.

Their only blemish came in the semifinal against Great Britain, an 8-5 loss that ultimately came down to a single brilliant four-stone takeout by Bruce Mouat in the seventh end. One shot. Benoit Schwarz-van Berkel, widely regarded as one of the best clutch performers in the sport, also missed a near-impossible angle runback in the tenth that would have tied it. These are the margins that separate gold from bronze, and Switzerland ran into a red-hot opponent at the wrong moment.

Norway, meanwhile, scraped through the round-robin at 5-4 and needed their final game just to secure a playoff spot. Magnus Ramsfjell's team pushed Canada to extra ends in the semis and deserves credit for that, but their numbers over this tournament tell a different story from Switzerland's. They're averaging 6.4 points per game while allowing 6.8, which means they're essentially breaking even on the scoreboard.

Switzerland has won bronze at multiple Olympics and World Championships, and a team of this experience and consistency won't wallow in a semifinal defeat for long.

Gold Medal Match: Canada (-155) vs. Great Britain

This one has a more compelling narrative wrapped around it. Canada's Olympic run has been anything but smooth. A double-touching controversy early in the tournament, a heated back-and-forth with Sweden that got fairly colorful, and a 4-2 record at the halfway point all created real questions about whether Brad Jacobs' squad had what it takes. The answer has been yes. They've won four consecutive high-stakes matches since then, culminating in a 5-4 extra-end victory over Norway in the semis.

The head-to-head picture matters here too. Canada beat this exact Great Britain team 9-5 in the round-robin. Jacobs has been shooting at a higher percentage in the clutch ends of this tournament than Bruce Mouat, and the Canadian roster reads like a hall of fame ballot: Jacobs won gold in Sochi, Marc Kennedy and Ben Hebert both have gold medals from Vancouver. These are men who have stood in this exact moment before and delivered.

Great Britain's case is real, though. Mouat is the top-ranked skip in the world and his team showed genuine grit by knocking off unbeaten Switzerland in the semis despite a slow start. They're the reigning World Champions and they're not here by accident. There's also an interesting wrinkle in that Canada's high-performance director David Murdoch coached Mouat to silver in Beijing, meaning he knows the tendencies first hand.

What ultimately tips this toward Canada is the combination of experience, recent form, and the head-to-head result. Jacobs' team has responded to adversity at every turn, and their ability to manage the scoreboard has been the defining feature of their second-half run. Mouat will need a cleaner performance than he managed in the semifinal to pull this off.

Neither price on its own is particularly appealing. Switzerland at -350 is a lot of juice for a curling match, and Canada at -155 requires some faith. But if you're looking to play both, combining them into a two-leg parlay gets you to plus odds, which is genuinely the most attractive way to approach the slate. Both favorites cover the bases analytically, and the combined ticket reflects the value better than either leg individually.

Closing Ceremony is Sunday

Get your final fix of Olympic competition in this weekend, it will be a while before we get to enjoy it again! There are still events in biathlon, bobsled, speed skating and skiing this weekend. Enjoy!