The 2022 U.S. Olympic women’s hockey team was named on Saturday during the second intermission of the Winter Classic.
The 23-member team is led by Hilary Knight, who will be making her fourth Olympic appearance in Beijing. Four other members of the U.S. roster - Kendall Coyne Schofield, Brianna Decker, Amanda Kessel, and Lee Stecklein - will be competing at their third Olympics.
In total, 15 of 23 players have Olympic experience. Thirteen members of the 2018 gold-medal winning team will return for Beijing, while two 2014 Olympians Alex Carpenter and Megan Bozek - both of whom were final cuts from the 2018 U.S. roster - will make their Olympic return.
2022 U.S. women’s Olympic hockey roster:
Goalies:
- Alex Cavallini (nee Rigsby) (Delafield, Wis)
- Nicole Hensley (Lakewood, Colo.)
- Maddie Rooney (Andover, Minn.)
Defense:
- Cayla Barnes (Eastvale, Calif.)
- Megan Bozek (Buffalo Grove, Ill.)
- Jincy Dunne (O’Fallon, Mo.)
- Savannah Harmon (Downers Grove, Ill.)
- Caroline Harvey (Salem, N.H.)
- Megan Keller (Farmington, Mich.)
- Lee Stecklein (Roseville, Minn.)
Forwards:
- Hannah Brandt (Vadnais Heights, Minn.)
- Dani Cameranesi (Plymouth, Minn.)
- Alex Carpenter (North Reading, Mass.)
- Jesse Compher (Northbrook, Ill.)
- Kendall Coyne Schofield (Palos Heights, Ill.)
- Brianna Decker (Douseman, Wis.)
- Amanda Kessel (Madison, Wis.)
- Hilary Knight (Sun Valley, Idaho)
- Abbey Murphy (Evergreen Park, Ill.)
- Kelly Pannek (Plymouth, Minn.)
- Abby Roque (Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.)
- Hayley Scamurra (Getzville, N.Y.)
- Grace Zumwinkle (Excelsior, Minn.)
Knight, 32, is set to become the oldest U.S. Olympic women’s hockey player in history (a record currently held by Julie Chu).
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The roster also includes two teenagers: Caroline Harvey and Abbey Murphy, both 19. Harvey and Murphy were teammates at the 2019 and 2020 Women’s U18 World Championship, where Brianna Decker served as their assistant coach.
Abby Roque, a member of Wahnapitae First Nation, will be the first Indigenous woman to play hockey for the U.S. at the Olympics.
“There’s not many indigenous players playing, especially in the United States, so a big piece for me is to try to show that you can do it,” Roque said on the TODAY show in November.
Since 2018, five members of the 2018 gold-medal winning team have retired: Meghan Duggan, Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson, Monique Lamoureux-Morando, Kacey Bellamy, and Gigi Marvin.
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Another member of the 2018 Olympic team, Kali Flanagan, was invited to the U.S. team’s centralization program in the lead-up to Beijing, but was cut. Flanagan has since signed with the Boston Pride of the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF).
What’s expected of the U.S. women’s hockey team at the 2022 Winter Olympics?
Since women’s hockey debuted on the Olympic program in 1998, all but one gold medal game has come down to the United States and Canada. That tradition appears likely to continue in Beijing.
The U.S. women’s hockey team will enter the 2022 Winter Olympics as the defending Olympic champion, while the Canadians claimed the most recent world title.
Canada won a majority of exhibition games this fall (4-2), though the final three games in the pre-Olympic series were cancelled due to Covid-19. And for what it’s worth: in the lead-up to the 2014 Sochi and 2018 PyeongChang Olympics, there was a negative correlation between the team that won the exhibition series and the team that went on to win Olympic gold.
While the U.S. and Canada remain fierce rivals on the ice, since 2018, players from both teams have been working closely together off the ice to create a sustainable women’s pro league that pays a living wage.
In May 2019, over 200 women’s hockey players (including every post-grad member of the current U.S. and Canadian national teams) announced that they would not play in any North American league, essentially boycotting the NWHL (since rebranded as the PHF).
Knight and Coyne Schofield currently serve on the PWHPA board alongside some of their international rivals, including Brianne Jenner and Sarah Nurse of Canada.
“We know what we deserve. And we can’t settle for anything less than that because if we do, that means the next generation has to suffer as well,” Coyne Schofield told On Her Turf in October.
The women’s Olympic hockey tournament will begin on Thursday, February 3 in Beijing (the night of Wednesday, February 2 in the United States) ahead of the Opening Ceremony on February 4. See below for a full look at the U.S. team’s schedule for the 2022 Winter Olympics.
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U.S. Women’s Hockey - Group Game Schedule for the 2022 Winter Olympics:
Game | Date/Time (U.S. Eastern Time) | Date/Time (Beijing, China) |
| USA vs. Finland (FIN) | February 3 at 8:10am EST | February 3 at 9:10pm CST |
| USA vs. Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) | February 5 at 8:10am EST | February 5 at 9:10pm CST |
| USA vs. Switzerland (SUI) | February 6 at 8:10am EST | February 6 at 9:10pm CST |
| USA vs. Canada (CAN) | February 7 at 11:10pm EST | February 8 at 12:10pm CST |
Women’s Hockey – Playoff Round and Medal Game Schedule – 2022 Winter Olympics:
| Game | Date/Time (U.S. Eastern Time) | Date/Time (Beijing, China) |
| Quarterfinal #1 | February 10 at 11:10pm EST | February 11 at 12:10pm CST |
| Quarterfinal #2 | February 11 at 8:10am EST | February 11 at 9:10pm CST |
| Quarterfinal #3 | February 11 at 11:10pm EST | February 12 at 12:10pm CST |
| Quarterfinal #4 | February 12 at 3:40am EST | February 12 at 4:40pm CST |
| Semifinal #1 | February 13 at 11:10pm EST | February 14 at 12:10pm CST |
| Semifinal #2 | February 14 at 8:10am EST | February 14 at 9:10pm CST |
| Bronze Medal Game | February 16 at 6:30am EST | February 16 at 7:30pm CST |
| Gold Medal Game | February 16 at 11:10pm EST | February 17 at 12:10pm CST |
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Follow Alex Azzi on Twitter @AlexAzziNBC
