Canada drops lopsided women’s hockey preliminary round game to United States

It’s been over a year and Canada is still searching for a women’s hockey win against Team USA.

Abbey Murphy had three assists and Hannah Bilka added two goals as the U.S. continued its display of women’s hockey dominance at Milano Cortina 2026 with a 5-0 victory over Team Canada.

Caroline Harvey opened the scoring less than four minutes in, and by the end of the game she had added another two assists.

The Americans have now won seven consecutive games against Canada at the senior national level, including two at the 2025 world championships, a sweep of all four 2025 Rivalry Series games, and this preliminary round matchup at the Winter Olympic Games.

Aerin Frankel earned her second Olympic shutout.

Kirsten Simms also scored for the U.S. after a goaltender interference review and an unsuccessful coach’s challenge by Canada.

Laila Edwards scored the fifth goal and became the first Black woman to score a goal for Team USA at the Olympics.

Canada’s Ann-Renee Desbiens was pulled from the net after allowing five goals and replaced by Emerance Maschmeyer late in the third period.

Captain Marie-Philip Poulin missed the game for Canada. She suffered a lower-body injury on Monday and has been listed as day-to-day.

It is only the second time Canada has lost a game in the preliminary round of the Olympics. The last loss came in 1998 and was also at the hands of the Americans. Prior to Tuesday’s contest both teams were undefeated at Milano Cortina.

Canada will play their final game of this round on Thursday against Finland.