USA Hockey Star Brianna Decker Injured in Team’s First Game


Brianna Decker was screaming, her agony audible in an almost empty arena. The screams kept coming, the clock of the first period stopped at 10:58.

Within an hour, American hockey officials confirmed what anyone could assume: Decker, one of the toughest and most experienced players on the US women’s team, would not be returning for the game against Finland on Thursday. His status for the remainder of the Games looked questionable, a potentially hard blow to American ambitions to repeat as Olympic champions.

The US did not bring a taxi team of reserve players to Beijing.

Wis. Dousman’s forward Decker is in his third Olympic roster, just four years after he assisted the United States in the gold medal race at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games. He became the reserve captain this year.

After paramedics evacuated a warning and calmed Decker off the ice on a stretcher, the Americans quickly responded. Amanda Kessel slowly approached the net along the goal line, then circled the court and scored her first goal of the tournament for the United States, just 21 seconds after play restarted.

Less than three minutes later, Alex Carpenter made a power play to add to the US lead. The Americans added two more goals in the second period.

While the match against Finland was essentially a lauded offense – both teams are guaranteed to advance to the next round of the tournament – the matchup was an opportunity for both teams to take early action against tough opponents.

Finland won the bronze medal in 2018 in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Canada, which took silver that year, beat Switzerland 12-1 earlier on Thursday.



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