Crowds gather in south suburbs to cheer on local Olympians in US women’s hockey gold-medal game

Hockey fans in the Chicago area gathered Thursday to watch the U.S. Olympic women’s team — featuring several players with Illinois ties — win the gold medal in Milan in a 2-1 overtime thriller against Canada. Hilary Knight , raised in Lake Forest, scored the tying goal with 2:04 remaining in the third period before Megan Keller’s OT winner. NBC had a camera stationed in Orland Park, current home of U.S.

veteran Kendall Coyne Schofield . Close to 100 people gathered in the large basement at the Schofield home, where Coyne Schofield’s husband — former Super Bowl-winning Denver Broncos guard Michael Schofield — led the party efforts. Schofield recalled hosting a similar party when the U.S. team won the gold in 2018 in South Korea. That one didn’t end until about 3 a.m.

“It was late, but everyone was still going crazy,” Schofield said. 2026 Winter Olympics: Meet the medalists from the United States Deb Kwiatkowski, a family relative, said she admires Coyne Schofield, a Palos Heights native, for being a crusader for women’s sports.

Growing up on the South Side in the 1970s, Kwiatkowski said, there were so few opportunities for female athletes that her parents signed her up for a baseball team and claimed she was a boy named Dan. “It’s fantastic what she does for women’s sports,” she said of Coyne Schofield. “It’s amazing. I go up to Minnesota to watch her play for the (Professional Women’s Hockey League’s) Frost .

It’s a real thing.” Palos Heights Mayor Bob Straz was a guest at the party, and his city is having quite a good sports year. Indiana center Pat Coogan helped the Hoosiers football team win the national championship in January. “Aside from being a great athlete, Kendall is a great person too,” Straz said. “When you watch her on TV and you see the words ‘Palos Heights’ on the screen, it really puts us on the map.

“And Abbey (Murphy) putting Evergreen Park on the map is great too. It’s good for all of the South Side of Chicago to be represented because over the years, we have been the foster child in the area.” Barraco’s on 95th Street in Evergreen Park held a watch party for Murphy and Team USA.

Upon entering, there was a “Go Abbey” banner that rapidly filled with different colored messages from the local faithful. If you didn’t bring your own No. 37 jersey, free white T-shirts were offered to everyone who came into the restaurant — at least until the pile was evaporated by 11:10 a.m., an hour before puck drop.

Sitting in the second booth down was Murphy’s aunt Mauren, who was all smiles when friends and family spoke to her. She had a mimosa in front of her as she eagerly waited to watch her niece compete for the gold. “It’s an honor even to be playing this far,” the giddy 77-year-old said.

Murphy won a silver medal in 2022, but she told her family before heading overseas there’s something different about standing above the rest at the end. “(We) talked a couple of times, (she’s) very grounded,” Mauren said. “I don’t know if she gets excited or not. She’s zeroed in on that.” Murphy’s hockey career began at the Southwest Ice Arena with the St.

Jude hockey club. That’s about 7 miles south of her high school, Mother McAuley. A second banner briefly covered the signature-filled one at Barraco’s that featured a photo of Murphy and the rest of the club. She was in the center smiling with her teammates after her first win. She stood out in the photo for many reasons but mainly because she was the only girl on the team.