Team USA’s Kelly Pannek is savoring what she called an “incredible ride” after the U.S. women’s hockey team claimed Olympic gold Thursday night, edging out rival Canada 2-1 in a stunning overtime showdown at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics.
“Its been crazy. I don’t even know how long it’s been since we won but it’s just been so fun to celebrate with this team,” the veteran forward told CBS News 24/7 on Friday morning.
The victory marks the Americans’ third Olympic title — their first since their 2018 win in South Korea. Trailing 1-0 entering the third period, the U.S. rallied to force overtime, where Megan Keller scored the game-winning goal.
Fans were on the edge of their seats, but Pannek said Team USA had faith.
“I think that was something with this team that we always – just always – had that incredible belief even … in the winding down time of the third period, we knew it was just a matter of time before someone got that first one. And then going into overtime, we felt really good about where our team was at and just kind of kept trusting what we were doing,” Pannek said.
After the hard-fought triumph, the team posed for photos on the ice before carrying the celebration on in the locker room and then the Winter House, where family and friends greeted them.
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“It’s really special just to be able to, you know … it’s the team but it’s also the team behind the team – with your friends and family. And we’ve had great support here from them this entire tournament, so again, to celebrate with them is really special,” Pannek added.
Women’s hockey has seen explosive growth in the U.S. in recent years, with USA Hockey reporting that girls’ participation nationwide has climbed 65% over the past 15 seasons.
Pannek, who said she grew up playing in boys hockey leagues until high school, said it’s inspiring to see so many young girls now able to play the sport on all-girls teams.
“It is really cool now to see girls being able to play girls’ hockey growing up and not only that, but they have something to aspire to be,” she said. “And whether it’s an Olympian or to be a professional player in the PWHL back in North America – it is such an exciting time, I think, to be a young girl playing hockey.”
Pannek joked that the gold medal around her neck is heavy, but said Team USA will “carry this weight whenever we can.”
