MILAN (AP) — Alina Muller immediately understood the significance of her bronze-medal goal in a 2-1 overtime victory over Sweden, not just for the girls in Switzerland but for the bigger picture of women’s hockey.
Müller has experienced the ups and downs of her sport, on and off, over the past 12 years since she debuted on the Swiss hockey scene as a 15-year-old when she scored Switzerland’s first bronze-medal-clinching goal at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
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However, the Cortina Games in Milan were different for Müller and the other competitors. This is the first Olympic Games since the formation of the Professional Women’s Hockey League in the summer of 2023.
“Just a few years ago, there were a hundred people in the stands, and now it’s crazy to see this,” said Mueller, a former college star at Northeastern who is now in her third season with the Boston Fleet.
“Every year, it gets more exciting. We get more physical, more athletic and the game gets faster,” she added. “The stadium is packed.”
For a sport and league hoping for a post-Olympic boost, the tournament paid off in many ways.
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U.S. captain Hilary Knight is about to return home with a gold medal to end her Olympic career. The tournament featured two thrilling medal finals, both ending in overtime, with the United States defeating Canada 2-1. The long-standing competitive gap between the United States and Canada appears to be narrowing slightly.
“This is just the new normal,” Canada coach Troy Ryan said after Thursday’s loss.
“A lot of it is because of the PWHL influence, you see a lot of closer games,” added Ryan, who also coaches the PWHL’s Toronto Scepters. “You’re going to see international teams with PWHL players perform better than they did before.”
The Czech team won its first medal (bronze) at the World Championships, and four years later Switzerland and Sweden moved up the rankings by entering the medal round as fifth and sixth seeds.
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Just as important, there were no lopsided scores, which had raised questions about whether anyone could catch Canada and the United States. The most lopsided result was the top-seeded United States’ 6-0 quarterfinal victory over host Italy.
It’s a big change from the past, when Canada beat host Italy 16-0 at the 2006 Turin Olympics and then beat Slovakia 18-0 in 2010. Four years ago in Beijing, five games were decided by seven or more goals, including Canada’s 10-3 victory over Switzerland in the semifinals.
In Milan, nine matches were decided by one goal, with four of the eight being knockout and medal matches.
“The world was treated to the highest level of Olympic women’s hockey we’ve ever seen in Milan,” Jayna Hefford, PWHL executive vice president of hockey operations and a Hockey Hall of Famer, told The Associated Press. “The speed, the skill, the physicality, it’s all heightened and the balance of competition is greater than ever.”
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PWHL hats are famous around Milan, and the league’s Olympic pins are so popular that people need to trade them in for at least one dinner.
The league’s influence on international competition is only expected to grow as more rosters emerge. After adding two teams last year, the eight-team PWHL is preparing to add four more teams next season.
This growth reflects the league’s desire to attract more European talent. The timing is right with the depth and talent of prospects eligible for this year’s draft. The group is topped by Team USA’s Caroline Harvey (tournament MVP), Abbey Murphy and Laila Edwards, and also includes Sweden’s Josefin Bouveng, Finland’s Elisa Holopainen and Swiss goalie Andrea Braendli.
“I think it’s a big game changer,” Swedish coach Ulf Lundberg said of the PWHL.
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“I’ve been to a lot of games there and I can see that,” added Lundberg, who has seven American college athletes on his team. “It’s a big event for every game and it’s real, so I think it’s really important for women’s hockey.”
PWHL players are rewarded, too. They can now return to the league, with the PWHL schedule resuming next week, rather than spending much of the next four years playing and training in relative obscurity, as they have in the past.
“I think the reality is women’s hockey is not going to go silent. It’s not going to be dark,” U.S. forward Kendall Coyne-Schofield, captain of the Minnesota Frost team, said the day before the gold medal final. “A week from now, you’re going to be able to see every one of these players in tomorrow night’s game, which is awesome and something that hasn’t happened in women’s hockey and in the Olympics.”
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AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
