USA Olympic ice hockey stars perform Chicago Blackhawks puck drop

Team USA ice hockey’s Olympic silver medallists participated in the Chicago Blackhawks puck drop before their NHL clash against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday (6 March).

The honour was given to USA captain Kendall Coyne Schofield and five of her Beijing 2022 teammates in Alex Cavallini, Abbey Murphy, Jesse Compher, Savannah Harmon and Megan Bozek in order to recognise their contribution to the game on International Women's Day.

"It's extremely important because you need to see it to be it, and there's a lot of young girls who'll be watching the broadcast," Coyne Schofield said.

Coyne Schofield has competed at three Winter Olympics, having won silver at Sochi 2014 before becoming an Olympic champion at PyeongChang 2018. 

The Illinois native has won six IIHF World Women's Championships titles, and works for the Blackhawks as a player development coach.

One of her biggest inspirations in the sport is Vancouver Canucks assistant general manager Cammi Granato, who captained Team USA at the Nagano 1998 and Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Olympics.

"[Girls] will see us on the ice and be like, can I play for Team USA? I was that young girl," Coyne Schofield said. "I saw Cammi. I was a bug on the glass in 2002 when Team USA played Team Canada leading up into the Olympics and I watched No. 21 go all over the ice everywhere I could, in and out of the tunnel. That was who I wanted to be one day. I'll never be Cammi Granato but I've been able to wear the Team USA jersey, win a gold medal just like her, and all these young people who'll be inspired by the international women's game today and seeing all these other women in these roles and the sport of hockey is only going to increase our pipeline and the dreams of so many young people."