United States Women’s Hockey Team Dominates Sweden To Advance To Gold Medal Game

If you blinked during the second period of Monday’s semifinal showdown in Milan, you might have missed the exact moment Sweden’s Olympic dreams evaporated. One minute, the Swedes were hanging around, looking scrappy and maybe thinking they could pull off the upset of the century. The next minute? They were buried under an avalanche of red, white, and blue jerseys.

Team USA didn’t just beat Sweden 5-0 at the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena; they dismantled them with the kind of surgical precision that makes you wonder if it’s even fair. This win moves the Americans to a perfect 6-0 in the 2026 Winter Games, but the scary part isn’t the record. It’s how they’re doing it. They aren’t just winning; they are suffocating teams.

With the victory, the U.S. punches its ticket to Thursday’s Gold Medal Game, eyeing a chance to wash away the bitter aftertaste of the 2022 silver medal finish.

An All-Star Roster Playing With a Chip On Its Shoulder

Looking at this American lineup feels like cheating. It’s essentially a hockey All-Star team assembled for the sole purpose of world domination. But talent only gets you so far. You need chemistry, and you need a little bit of anger.

This team has been playing angrily since Beijing. Through six games in Milan, the U.S. women’s hockey team has outscored opponents by a comical margin of 31-1. But on Monday, the story wasn’t just the offense. It was the complete suffocation of a young, hungry Swedish squad that simply had no answer for the American hockey team’s speed.

Cayla Barnes got the party started early in the first period, finding a soft spot in the defense and burying a snapshot to make it 1-0. It felt like a “deep breath” moment. But the real fireworks? They were saved for the middle frame.

The Second Period Blitzkrieg

Here’s the thing about hockey: momentum is a fickle beast. In the second period, Sweden actually had a few shifts where they looked dangerous. They were pressing. They were getting pucks deep. For a fleeting heartbeat, the crowd thought we might have a game on our hands. Team USA took that personally.

In a span of less than three minutes, the Americans turned a competitive 1-0 hockey game into a 4-0 laugher. It started with Taylor Heise, who took a feed from Hannah Bilka and one-timed it home. Before the announcer could even finish shouting Heise’s name, the puck was back in the net.

Kendall Coyne Schofield, the captain and spiritual engine of this team, tipped home a blast from Laila Edwards. Then, just to add insult to injury, Hayley Scamurra jammed one home shortly after. It was ruthless. It was fast. It was classic USA Hockey. Swedish Goalie Ebba Svensson Traff, who had been standing on her head to keep it close, was finally pulled, but the damage was terminal.

The Brick Wall: Aerin Frankel and the Shutout Streak

We have to talk about the defense. Or, more accurately, we have to talk about how incredibly bored Aerin Frankel must be getting back there. Frankel had to make 21 saves on Monday, and she was sharp when she needed to be. But the defensive unit in front of her is playing at a level that is frankly unfair to the rest of the world.

With the 5-0 victory, Team USA extended its shutout streak to a mind-boggling 331 minutes and 23 seconds. That’s an Olympic record. They haven’t given up a goal since Feb. 5 against Czechia. Think about that. We are talking about nearly five and a half full games of hockey without the puck crossing the goal line.

Frankel earned her second shutout of the tournament, but this is a collective effort. The blueliners are clogging passing lanes, blocking shots, and transitioning the puck up the ice so fast that opposing forwards spend half the game chasing shadows.

Redemption Is One Win Away

Despite the lopsided scores and the record-breaking defense, nobody in the American locker room is popping champagne yet. They know why they are here. Defenseman Caroline Harvey summed it up perfectly to reporters after the game. The highs of winning are great, but the lows of losing? That sticks with you. The ghost of the 2022 Gold Medal game against Canada is still haunting the hallways, and this team is desperate for an exorcism.

“We definitely want redemption,” Harvey said. “That’s what we came here for.”

They don’t want to just play in the final; they want to finish the job. Whether they face their eternal rivals, Canada, or a surging Swiss team on Thursday, the goal remains the same. The U.S. women are playing fast, they’re playing loud, and right now, they look absolutely unstoppable. Thursday can’t get here fast enough.