Alex Carpenter, Megan Bozek back after cuts by USA hockey
BEIJING — On the February night the U.S. women’s hockey team celebrated its Olympic gold medal win over Canada in PyeongChang four years ago, Alex Carpenter was not watching. She was with her new professional hockey team in China, an unlikely destination for one of the world’s best players. A few months before, she had been one of Team USA’s final cuts, a stunning move considering she had helped the team win four world championships and a silver at the Sochi Olympics in 2014.
But that move to China had helped Carpenter rediscover her joy for the game, a pursuit aided by former teammate Megan Bozek, who also had played on the 2014 Olympic team but had been cut before 2018 — and who decided to join Carpenter to play overseas.
Four years later, in a country that had helped rejuvenate their careers, Carpenter and Bozek were again playing in the Olympics on Monday night, helping Team USA to a 4-1 win over Finland in the semifinals to earn a chance at what they missed out on: a gold medal against rival Canada.
“It feels like it has come full circle, from a heartbreak four years ago. But watching our best friends win an Olympic gold medal is something special,” said Bozek, whose team will meet the Canadians in a gold medal rematch Thursday. “And then having the opportunity to play in China ... and continuing to play and now being back here to fight for a gold medal — is something really special in our hockey journey together.”
Advertisement
Their journey continued Monday night in one of the tournament’s most competitive games. The United States needed everyone on its roster to stave off the upset-minded Finns. It needed second-period goals from Cayla Barnes and Hilary Knight to build a lead; it needed a late third-period goal from Hayley Scamurra to secure some insurance with a 3-0 advantage; and it needed every one of the 25 saves made by goalie Alex Cavallini, who made a string of acrobatic stops throughout the night to deny Finland any chance to climb back into the game.
But the United States also needed Bozek again to help anchor the defense as she has all tournament, and it needed Carpenter to use her speed and skill to create numerous scoring opportunities, including an assist on an empty-net goal by Abby Roque in the final seconds.
“They’ve been incredibly important. [Bozek] is carrying a lot of minutes and playing really, really well defensively. … And [Carpenter], if I look back over the course of four months, Alex Carpenter might have been our best overall player,” U.S. Coach Joel Johnson said. “For both of them, I don’t think they’re worried about what happened four years ago. I think they’re excited about what is in front of them.”
For this run to happen in China has made it all the more special for Carpenter, 27, who has scored four goals with two assists over the tournament. In the months after she was cut, she threw herself into competing for professional clubs in China, where her father, former NHL player Bobby Carpenter, also coached a professional team. She played three seasons with the Vanke Rays, which now competes in the Women’s Hockey League, becoming a star in the league while enjoying some of the resources and benefits that weren’t available to professional players in North America.
Advertisement
“This is like a second home to me, honestly. I’ve spent so much time here and made so many great friends here. These people really helped me love the game again after what I went through. I owe a lot to the organization that I played with here. In a way it seems like it came full circle to get cut, play here for four years and then end up here four years later,” Carpenter said. “It’s something that we can look back on now — obviously it was a tough time, but I think to be able to go through it with someone else made it a little bit easier in a sense. To end up here with [Bozek] is pretty special.”
Carpenter had grown even closer to Bozek after both were cut by Team USA in the months before PyeongChang, and by 2019, Bozek had moved to China to compete professionally. She never thought her career would take her there — “It was great to have new teammates, new friends, and make memories,” the 30-year-old Bozek said — but it was also important to simply keep playing. And as they did, both Carpenter and Bozek remained two of the best players in the world as they worked their way back onto Team USA’s roster for Beijing.
“This group has been so special for me, and coming back, I’m looking forward to doing it with this group of 23,” said Carpenter, who scored one of the team’s two goals in a loss to Canada in the preliminary round. Both she and Bozek were rising stars when they had to settle for a silver medal against Canada in Sochi in 2014 — only to watch their best friends on the team conquer their rivals in 2018, which was only the second U.S. Olympic gold medal and ended a run of four straight golds for Canada. After leaning on each other in the years since, Carpenter and Bozek now have a chance to help their country defend that title Thursday — in a country that helped keep their careers afloat.
“Just knowing what we’ve gone through and fighting our way back,” Bozek said, “and wearing that USA jersey here at the Olympics … it’s great having her by my side.”
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7uK3SoaCnn6Sku7G70q1lnKedZMCxu9GtqminnK66sbXCrGZraGJnfHF%2BjmpraJmcmsVur8Crp56mpJq%2FbrnEoJinZZKkx6a3jK6qmmWYpLCssdho