U.S. women's hockey players bask in glow of Olympic gold

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea – Meghan Duggan slept with her gold medal. Hilary Knight just couldn’t sleep.

And Monique Lamoureux-Morando has kept her medal around her neck or in her pocket.

“I’m not letting go of it for a while,” she said.

Added Duggan, “I don’t think we’ve taken them off our necks yet. I don’t know why you would.”

Less than 24 hours after their historic win, the U.S. women’s hockey players continued to bask in the glow of Olympic gold.

After 20 long years, the Americans were Olympic champions again after a dramatic shootout win over rival Canada.

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After a shootout of five shooters left the teams tied at 2-2, Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson used nifty stickwork to put them ahead. A save from 20-year-old goalie Maddie Rooney clinched the win and set off a celebration two decades in the making.

“To do it in the fashion that we did just makes it that much more sweeter for us,” said Lamoureux-Morando.

The USA last won gold in women’s hockey’s debut in Nagano, but had lost to Canada in three of the past four Olympic finals.

The Canadians had won the past four Olympic gold medals.

“Our mission for our team has been clear since day one,” said Duggan, the team captain. “We wanted to come here and be the best team we could be as Team USA every single game, regardless of opponent. Everyone in this room and everyone in the world knows our history against the opponent we faced last night, but it certainly was special for us, based on what we’ve been through.

“But it was about Team USA last night. And when I think about the way we looked at each other on the ice after, the time we spent in the locker room together after the game, the win was about our team, our program, our country and we couldn’t be more proud.”

That pride comes with the deep ties within the program.

Duggan said she and Brianna Decker spoke to Julie Chu on the phone at 4 a.m. here for about 45 minutes.

Chu is one of the most decorated female hockey players in the sport’s history. She has four Olympic medals, but none of them is gold.

The breakthrough she’d played for finally came here on Thursday.

“She was crying on the phone. We were crying on the phone,” Duggan said. “What a moment. To share that with her, it was fantastic.”

The USA’s win resonated through time and beyond the 23 women on the Olympic roster. It came 38 years to the day since the Miracle on Ice and 20 years since the country’s last gold.

Angela Ruggiero, a member of that 1998 team and hall of famer, is now an IOC member. She knew coming into these Games that she would be handing out the Olympic medals, and she hoped they’d be gold.

“To have Angela Ruggiero giving us our medals and to think of how the stars just kind of aligned for us, for us it seems like it was kind of meant to be,” said Lamoureux-Morando.

It had special resonance with Hilary Knight, the U.S. star who played in Vancouver in her first Games and Ruggiero’s last

“Having her put the medal around our necks, I can’t even describe the feeling. It was just a dream come true,” Knight said. “It’s just an incredible moment to share that with a former player and someone you’ve looked up to and aspired to be your whole life.”

Beaming brighter than the golds around their necks, the U.S. women gave the next generation of girls something to aspire to.