Megan Keller’s Heroics Highlight Boston College Women’s Hockey Contributions to Team USA’s Olympic Gold Medal

Going into the gold medal game, no other school’s alumnae contributed more to Team USA’s gold medal than the four former Eagles that took advantage of the privilege to wear the red, white, and blue at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games. That proved to be nothing compared to what one former Eagle would give Team USA on the game’s ultimate stage.

After Canada solved every look the Americans threw at them for the first 58 minutes, Megan Keller found Laila Edwards near the blue line before the current Wisconsin Badger’s shot was redirected by Hillary Knight. The goal in Knight’s final Olympic game forced overtime and broke a three-way tie atop the American career goal scoring list.

Despite the helper on the historic goal, Keller managed to find the only way to upstage her captain’s record-breaking goal. Just over four minutes into three-on-three overtime, Keller found herself one-on-one with Canada’s Claire Thompson as she entered the left side of the offensive zone. After cutting to the middle by Thompson, Keller sent a backhander between Ann-Renee Desbiens’s blocker and leg pads to send the Americans into a frenzy. The goal secured the third ever gold medal for Team USA and will certainly be shown for decades to come due to both the moment and the move.

THE golden goal 🚨🇺🇸🚨🇺🇸 #WinterOlympics pic.twitter.com/OhzdMt0nxD
— USA Hockey (@usahockey) February 19, 2026

Cayla Barnes, Hannah Bilka, Alex Carpenter, and Keller combined to provide the United States with 11 goals, 12 assists, and 23 points across seven games. These marks put Boston College alone in first for goals by alumnae on Team USA.

Keller led all former Eagles and tied for the overall lead with nine points, recording three goals and six assists in the tournament. Now at 12 career Olympic assists in 19 games, Keller ranks in the top-three all-time for Olympic assists by an American. Her most productive and notable game before the goal and assist in the final came against Finland in Group A play, recording a goal and a pair of assists.

Bilka paced all Americans with four goals and chipped in three assists to tie for fourth amongst all skaters on the team with seven points. Bilka recorded a point in five of seven games, including a pair of goals in the preliminary round matchup with Canada.

In her third Olympics, Carpenter posted six points on an even split of goals and assists. Five of those points came across the first three games of the tournament with the goal against Switzerland moving her into a tie for fourth all time in career Olympic goals for Team USA with 11 goals. Another person in the tie is Katie King Crowley, who currently is the Boston College head coach and coached Carpenter in her time on Chestnut Hill.

The final member of the Boston College contingent, Barnes provided the game winning goal against Sweden in the semifinals to punch the United States’ ticket to the gold medal game against Canada, the seventh time the two countries met in the gold medal game.

First strike belongs to Cayla Barnes!!! pic.twitter.com/hWBvVkUbOo
— Boston College Women's Hockey (@BC_WHockey) February 16, 2026

Both Keller and Barnes capture their third Olympic medal and second gold over after representing the United States in both in 2018 at PyeongChang and 20222 in Beijing. It’s a successful debut for Bilka as she captures gold in her first Olympic Games.

No player on the roster has waited longer for an Olympic gold than Alex Carpenter. Carpenter took a leave of absence after her sophomore season at Boston College to play for the United States in Sochi, taking home a silver in her Olympic debut. She would have to watch at home four years later as her countrymates claimed gold in PyeongChang before returning to the games in 2022. After falling short in her first two trips, third time is the charm for Boston College’s all-time leading scorer as she captures her elusive gold medal.

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