The United States women’s hockey team has dominated every single game in these 2026 Olympics.
That doesn’t mean the squad’s coach is totally satisfied with everything, though.
As things got a little “spicy,” according to forward Taylor Heise, in a 6-0 romp over Italy, head coach John Wroblewski made clear that he believes not all teams are officiated the same way.
Things got particularly heated late in the second period when Hannah Bilka scored Team USA’s sixth goal and fell on top of Italian netminder Gabriella Durante.
That led to a team-wide scrum behind the net, particularly with Abbey Murphy of the Americans and Italy’s Franziska Stocker pushing and shoving.
Both took matching minors.
Wroblewski, who jawed at the Italian bench amid the fracas, vented his frustrations about how games are called on the ice, with some teams, according to him, getting different treatment than others.
“They’re not supposed to be able to remove a player from the puck with any type of force except while playing the puck,” he said. “And you just see it time and time again, a team that’s maybe not as deep or skilled or as athletic as some of the players are allowed to hold up and blatantly break the rules. Meanwhile if those same players played against the opponent the same way, as physical and as determined, they’d be going to the box every single time.”
2026 WINTER OLYMPICS
Heise, who had an assist in the win, said the U.S. had to play a “specific” style against the Italians.
“A little spicy,” Heise said, per ESPN. “I don’t want to say too much about it, but I think at the end of the day, we had to play a specific style of hockey, and we’re willing to form to whatever we need to do to be successful.”
Kerfuffle or not, the U.S. is heading to the semifinals on Monday with a gold medal feeling more and more inevitable.
