Benched in Beijing, Harvey emerges as driving force behind USA Hockey's offensive attack in Milan

MILAN (AP) — Two distinct memories come to Lee Stecklein while recalling U.S. hockey teammate Caroline Harvey’s Olympic debut at the 2022 Beijing Games.

The first is of a then-19-year-old Harvey spending a large majority of America’s final three games anchored to the bench.

The other is the confidence and deft ability Harvey showed during her lone two shifts, spanning 62 seconds, in the second period of a 3-2 loss to Canada in the gold medal game.

“I remember watching her and she was like a spark,” Stecklein said Thursday. “After having not played much, and now you’re in your first Olympic gold medal game, to just go out there and be able to turn it on like she did, that’s really special. You don’t see that often.”

Four years later at the Milan Cortina Games, Harvey is unmistakably putting on a show while making up for the time she lost at Beijing.

Rather than riding the bench as she did under former coach Joel Johannson, Harvey is the driving force behind a creative, up-tempo, quick-strike offense as the U.S. enters the quarterfinal knockout round facing Italy on Friday. The Americans swept their four-game preliminary round schedule with a tournament-best 20 goals, with Harvey tied for the Olympic lead in points with two goals and five assists.

Maturity and development have factored in Harvey’s emergence, just as much as coach John Wroblewski, who has provided her the green light to create.

“The amount of times that she drove (the net) was insane. I loved the initiatives that she takes,” Wroblewski said after Harvey had a goal and two assists in a 5-0 win over Switzerland on Monday.

A night later, Harvey had another one-goal, two-assist outing, this time in a 5-0 win over Canada.

“His words mean a lot to me. He’s been such an integral part of my development and building my confidence up in the last couple of years,” Harvey said of her coach. “A lot of credit to him.”

Soft-spoken and humble, Harvey refuses to say anything negative about her experience at Beijing, in which she was held without a point. As for her production in Milan, she deflects the credit to others.

“I’m just happy for whatever role I’m given,” she said. “It’s just the players who are out there. The teammates I have, they’re unbelievable and they’re making things happen.”

And yet, that doesn’t explain Harvey’s ability to produce in the clutch, or the numerous accolades she has drawn in the midst of her senior college season as Wisconsin's captain.

As a freshman, she earned WCHA rookie of the year honors and scored the deciding goal in Wisconsin’s 3-2 win overtime win against Minnesota in the Frozen Four semifinal. From New Hampshire, she's a two-time national champion, two-time conference defender of the year, and currently ranks second among NCAA women with 54 points (17 goals, 37 assists).

“She’s sort of got the ‘It factor,’” Badgers coach Mark Johnson once said of Harvey.

Wroblewski has compared her to NHL playmaking defenseman Quinn Hughes.

One Professional Women’s Hockey League general manager in November privately predicted Harvey would be the No. 1 pick in this year’s draft in a class that includes several other blossoming stars, including U.S. teammates Abbey Murphy and Laila Edwards.

“She’s a special player,” Murphy said. “She’s always had it. When she gets buzzing, watch out.”

After being limited to an assist in her first two games, Harvey found her legs against Switzerland. She set up the opening goal by working down the left wall and threading a pass through the middle to set up Haley Winn. Harvey scored by driving from the left point, eluding several defenders and jamming the puck inside the left post.

Against Canada, Harvey scored the opening goal by driving from the left point, pausing long enough to throw off goalie Ann-Renee Desbiens’ timing, before rifling in the puck.

“It feels like a fourth forward out there and really drives the offense,” teammate Hannah Bilka said.

This is what Wroblewski envisioned of Harvey upon taking over the team in the leadup to the 2022 world championships.

Harvey was benched in Beijing after her penalty led to Canada scoring the opening goal of a 4-2 win in the preliminary round.

Wroblewski then recalled her struggling in an exhibition game against Canada the following summer.

“I said to her that she’s accomplished basically everything she could accomplish as a young girl,” he said. “You’re only 19 turning 20, but you’re an Olympian. Just go with it.”

At 31, Stecklein remembers the two being paired during one of Harvey’s first national team camps.

“I was like, who is this kid? She just plays hockey. And it’s just such fun,” Stecklein said. “And she’s done it the whole time. She’s done it under pressure. And I feel like that’s what you’re seeing now. She’s just continuing to get better and better.”

AP Olympic coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

United States' Caroline Harvey, right, celebrates with United States' Abbey Murphy after scoring her sides fifth goal during a preliminary round match of women's ice hockey between the United States and Switzerland at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

United States' Caroline Harvey celebrates with teammates after scoring her side's first goal during a preliminary round match of women's ice hockey between USA and Canada at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

United States' Caroline Harvey celebrates with teammates after scoring her side's first goal during a preliminary round match of women's ice hockey between USA and Canada at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

United States' Caroline Harvey celebrates after scoring her side's first goal during a preliminary round match of women's ice hockey between USA and Canada at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

MONTREAL (AP) — After receiving their first wake-up call of the playoffs, the Carolina Hurricanes have responded like the beasts of the East they have been all season.

Following a loss to open the Eastern Conference Final, the Hurricanes have won back-to-back games in overtime to take a 2-1 lead against Montreal in the best-of-seven series. They look like their old selves again, and it has them two games from reaching to the Stanley Cup Final.

“We’re feeling good about playing hockey again,” said winger Taylor Hall, who scored his fourth goal this postseason in Game 3 on Monday night. “Now the game is starting to slow down, and you’re making reads without even having to think about it.”

That spells trouble for the Canadiens, who registered just two shots on goal combined over the third period and OT. Carolina has outshot Montreal 64-26 over the past two games.

“They throw a lot to the net, so they’re going to outshoot you,” said Montreal's Cole Caufield, who scored 51 goals during the regular season. “I think everybody that plays them knows that, and you can’t look at it that way — that they kind of tilt the ice that much.”

Shot volume is something the Hurricanes have done consistently in the eight years since coach Rod Brind'Amour took over. What has changed in this series is preventing the young, skilled Canadiens from generating offense.

“You need everything working against a team like that,” Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said. “I don’t think you can just rely on the power play.”

Caufield chalked up his team's struggles to Carolina's pace and aggressive play. That the brand of hockey Brind'Amour wants to play.

“It’s putting the stress on them,” defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere said. “It’s a hard system for us to play sometimes because you’ve got to be on your toes. You’re always skating. But you can see it’s pretty effective, and it’s probably not the best to play against.”

It did not look at all right in Game 1 last week, which the Canadiens won 6-2 after getting off to a hot start, finding long breakout passes and staying patient in solving Carolina's relentless forecheck to hand the Hurricanes their first loss of the playoffs.

“It’s definitely a turning point for us: a little adversity,” Gostisbehere said. “Having two sweeps the first two rounds — not a lot of adversity in that sense. For us, it was a good kick in the teeth.”

The Hurricanes are now as close to the final as they've been during this run of success under Brind'Amour, which included getting swept twice and losing in five games in their three previous trips to the East final. This spring, they are 5-0 on the road and 5-0 in overtime thanks to a consistent approach.

“We try to play our game home and away,” first-line center Sebastian Aho said. “The game’s the same, I feel like. Obviously the environment is a little bit different, whether you’re home or away. But I feel like the game stays the same.”

Game 4 at Bell Centre in Montreal on Wednesday night is Carolina's first chance to move to the verge of making the final. The Canadiens feel like they have another level to get to, and they need to find it quickly.

"We didn’t expect this to be easy, and we’re OK with that," St. Louis said. “There’s not one thing. We have to put it all together. You’re at this stage right now, you have to put it all together. Execution’s part of that. Jam is part of that. There’s not one thing. We’ve just got to put it all together, and I know we can.”

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Carolina Hurricanes' Sebastian Aho (20) and Andrei Svechnikov (37) celebrate in front of Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen (31) after the winning goal by Aho in overtime of Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series against the Montreal Canadiens in Montreal, Monday, May 25, 2026. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)

Carolina Hurricanes' Andrei Svechnikov celebrates his goal with teammates after an overtime period of Game 3 of the NHL Eastern Conference final Stanley Cup playoff series against the Montreal Canadiens, in Montreal, Monday, May 25, 2026. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP) CORRECTION: Corrected the scorer to Andrei Svechnikov

Carolina Hurricanes' Sebastian Aho (20) reacts after the teammate Andrei Svechnikov scored on Montreal Canadiens goaltender Jakub Dobes (75) as teammate Juraj Slafkovsky (20) looks on during an overtime period of Game 3 of the NHL Eastern Conference final Stanley Cup playoff series in Montreal, Monday, May 25, 2026. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP) CORRECTION: Corrected the scorer to Andrei Svechnikov