Harvey, Dunne lead US to 3rd
straight win in Olympic women's hockey. Poulin hurt as Canada wins
[February 10, 2026]
By JOHN WAWROW
MILAN (AP) — After raving about his young players, goaltending and
defender Caroline Harvey’s driving speed in a 5-0 win over
Switzerland on Monday, U.S. coach John Wroblewski was quickly
reminded of the next challenge ahead for his women’s hockey team at
the Milan Cortina Games.
Canada is up next. And with or without Marie-Philip Poulin —
Canada's "Captain Clutch — Wroblewski understands his team is in for
a handful on Tuesday.
“Yeah, I heard about that. It’s a shame,” Wroblewski said of Poulin
limping off the ice and missing the final two periods of Canada’s
5-1 win over Czechia.
Canada coach Troy Ryan said he didn’t have full details of Poulin’s
apparent lower-body injury. He said it was too early to say whether
she could play Tuesday.
“The interesting thing about looking forward to Canada is that every
time we play them, it’s got a different life, a different culture,"
Wroblewski said. "And so we’ll see what we get tomorrow night.”
The U.S. might be favored in the tournament, but the Canadians are
the defending Olympic champions.
The Americans continued finding new contributors in winning their
first three games by a combined score of 15-1. It was the
youngsters’ time to shine against Switzerland.
Harvey and Joy Dunne, two of seven U.S. players still in college,
each had a goal and two assists.
Gwyneth Philips stopped 20 shots in her Olympic debut, and shared
the shutout with Ava McNaughton, The 21-year-old McNaughton stopped
one shot after being inserted with 1:48 left. Alex Carpenter, Hannah
Bilka and Haley Winn also scored in an outing the Americans closed
with three goals in the first 7:42 of the third period.
Captain Hilary Knight had two assists to increase her Olympic career
point total to 31 — one short of matching the U.S. record set by
Jenny Potter.
If not for Swiss goalie Andrea Braendli stopping 35 of the first 37
shots she faced, and 45 overall, the game could well have been an
early rout.
“Switzerland’s goalie was awesome. She had some kind of force field
going back there, I don’t know what,” Wroblewski said. “I think we
just needed take a deep breath.”
Switzerland dropped to 1-2 and was shut out for the second straight
outing following a 4-0 loss to Canada on Saturday.
“It takes it’s toll after a while, they just keep on coming at you,”
Swiss coach Colin Muller said. “I thought we did a great job
defensively and better offensively today. We had more courage than
we had last game. It’s great to see. Every game we get better. If it
ended up 3-1, I would’ve been happy.”
Though Switzerland tested the Americans early, Philips stood firm.
The second-year PWHL Ottawa Charge goalie kicked out her left skate
just in time to stop a shot from Ivana Wey in the opening minute.
Some 12 1/2 minutes in, Philips got her glove up to foil Rahel
Enzler, who was set up on the doorstep.
Philips said the early action helped settle her nerves. And she was
more than happy to share the shutout.
“I’m ecstatic. I’m so happy with Ava,” Philips said. “She’s one heck
of a goalie and she deserves to be here and get some ice time.”
Then it was Harvey’s turn to take over. The offensive-minded
defender drove up the left boards and sent a pass into the middle
for Winn to redirect for the opening goal 6:04 in. Harvey capped the
scoring by driving in from the left point and beating Braendli by
jamming in the puck on the short side.
“It was a great game. Super fired up for the girls,” Harvey said,
deflecting the credit. “Just driving my feet. Teammates were getting
open and they were making stuff happen and it was a lot of fun with
the girls tonight.”
[to top of second column] |
Switzerland's Andrea Brandli makes a save against United States'
Caroline Harvey during a preliminary round match of women's ice
hockey between the United States and Switzerland at the 2026 Winter
Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr
David Josek)
After having limited playing time at the 2022
Beijing Games, the Wisconsin senior has been spurred by Wroblewski
to use her speed and playmaking abilities.
“The amount of times that she drove was insane. I loved the
initiatives that she takes,” the coach said. “I hope it keeps
rolling, not only for her, but for her teammates.”
Poulin's exit overshadows Canada win
After Poulin exited, her team responded with a rush of goals.
Canada was leading 1-0 on Kristin O’Neill’s goal when Poulin left
the game after being rocked by an illegal hit from Kristyna
Kaltounkova. Poulin then seemed to be keeping weight off her right
leg as she left the ice seconds into her next shift.
The Canadians scored twice in a minute soon after, with goals by
Laura Stacey and Sarah Fillier prompting the Czechs to pull starting
goalie Julie Pejsova for Michaela Hesova. Canada moved to 2-0 for
the tournament but was denied a second shutout when Natalie Mlynkova
scored for the Czechs.
Italy, Germany advance
Host nation Italy secured a place in the quarterfinals of the
Olympic women’s hockey tournament for the first time by beating
Japan 3-2 on Monday.
Germany followed by claiming its spot in the next round with a 2-1
overtime win over France.
Both Italy and Germany improved to 2-1 and joined Sweden (3-0) in
completing the three Group B nations to clinch a quarterfinal berth.
Japan and France were eliminated from contention.
Italy advanced in just its second Olympic appearance, both as the
host, after going 0-4 at the 2006 Turin Games and finishing last
among the eight-team field.
“I think this is everybody’s dream coming true,” Italy’s Canada-born
goalie Gabriella Durante said. “Hopefully this just grows hockey in
Italia that much more for little girls all over the country.”
Matilde Fantin scored twice, and Kristen Della Rovere's third period
goal stood up as the game winner.
Jobst-Smith scores in OT
Katarina Jobst-Smith scored for Germany 1:17 into overtime by
snapping in a shot from the high slot just inside the left post.
Laura Kluge also scored and Sandra Abstreiter stopped 13 shots.
Estelle Duvin forced OT by scoring 8:21 into the third period, and
Alice Philbert stopped 44 shots. France finished 0-4 in its Olympic
debut, and was outscored by a combined margin of 13-4.
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AP Sports Writer James Ellingworth contributed to this report.
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