Backed by strong netminding from two former Northeastern University goalies, the United States’ women’s Olympic ice hockey team will compete for the gold medal on Thursday.
Team USA has put on a show at the 2026 Winter Olympics, having handily beaten the Czech Republic, Finland, Switzerland, Canada, Italy and Sweden, allowing only one goal in six games.
In the team’s fifth straight shutout, former Northeastern goalie Aerin Frankel denied Sweden at every turn in a 5-0 rout that punched the U.S. ticket to Thursday’s 1:10 p.m. ET gold-medal showdown with Canada. It was Frankel’s third shoutout of the 2026 Olympics.
Flint said Frankel is now widely considered the best goalie in women’s hockey, after working hard during her years at Northeastern to get on USA Hockey’s radar.
“She’s proven to a lot of people — and to a lot of critics — that she’s the best goalie in the world,” said Dave Flint, Northeastern’s women’s hockey coach.
The U.S. team has a strong contingent of Northeastern graduates anchoring the roster, including forwards Kendall Coyne Schofield and Hayley Scamurra, and goaltenders Frankel and Gwyneth Philips.
The star-studded lineup reflects a pipeline from Huntington Avenue to the Olympic spotlight — proof that Northeastern’s renowned hockey program and approach to recruitment is worthy of gold, said Flint.
03/01/16 – BOSTON, MA. – Kendall Coyne, AMD’15/CPS’17, captain of the women’s hockey team and a finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Award, given to the top collegiate women’s hockey player in the nation. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University
09/09/22 – BOSTON, MA. – Women’s Hockey goalie, Gwyn Philips, poses for a portrait at Matthews Arena on Friday Sept. 9, 2022. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University
03/09/21 – BOSTON, MA: Aerin Frankel, the All-America goaltender of Northeastern’s ice hockey team, poses for a portrait on March 9, 2020. Photo by Ruby Wallau/Northeastern University
The U.S. team has four Northeastern alum anchoring the roster: Kendall Coyne Schofield, Gwyneth Philips, Hayley Scamurra and Aerin Frankel. Photos by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University, Jim Pierce and Ruby Wallau Northeastern University
“I’m very proud of all of our athletes,” Flint said. “It’s tough to make that roster. There are so many great players in the United States, so for four of our players to make it to that level, to the biggest stage, is really a testament to the caliber of student athletes that we’ve been recruiting at Northeastern.”
Coyne Schofield is no stranger to the Olympic ice. A Northeastern Athletics Hall of Famer and current captain of the Minnesota Frost of the PWHL, she took home silver medals in Sochi, Russia and Beijing, China, in 2014 and 2022, respectively — and a gold medal in 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
It’s Coyne Schofield’s fourth Olympic Games — but her first as a mom.
“It’s been more than 12 years since I learned I would compete in my first Olympics in 2014, and the feeling today is just as powerful,” she wrote on X at the start of the Games.
In addition to her medals, Coyne Schofield finished her career at Northeastern as one of the all-time greats: she is the Huskies’ all-time leader in goals, and the winner of the 2016 Patty Kazmaier Award, an honor bestowed by USA Hockey that recognizes the top player in NCAA Division I women’s ice hockey each year.
Flint described Coyne Schofield as the kind of leader the women’s Olympic team can lean on, praising her work ethic, hockey IQ and unmatched speed on the ice.
“She’s such a great leader, on and off the ice,” he said. “A person like Kendall, how she plays — it’s infectious to her teammates.”
A hugely decorated goalie in her collegiate days, Frankel graduated from Northeastern in 2021, and holds the all-time school career win record at 73 victories. On Feb. 10, 2026, she etched her name into Olympic lore, becoming the first U.S. netminder to hold Canada scoreless on the Games’ biggest stage. She has allowed only one goal in four games in net for Team USA.
Philips played in two games for Team USA and did not allow any goals. In 2023, she earned national recognition as the top goaltender in women’s college hockey, and by the time she left Northeastern, she had posted a .958 save percentage — the best ever recorded in NCAA history.
Flint praised Philips, who he said had to “sit behind [Frankel] for three years,” adding that she also initially flew under the radar with USA Hockey before going on to earn a spot in the national team program and emerge as one of the country’s most promising young goaltenders.
“I’ve been lucky during my time here at Northeastern that we’ve had a lot of really good goalies who I have trusted,” he said, adding that he subscribes to the “GAGG rule,” or “get a good goalie.” He said goalies play “probably the most important position on the ice.”
Scamurra, meanwhile, has provided veteran leadership and two-way reliability, bringing speed and years of experience on the international stage, where she captured multiple IIHF Women’s World Championship medals. She added to her international résumé with a silver medal at the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing.
Scamurra scored her third goal of the tournament in the semifinal against Sweden.
Tanner Stening is an assistant news editor at Northeastern Global News. Email him at t.stening@northeastern.edu. Follow him on X/Twitter @tstening90.