Haley Winn Praises the Olympics for ‘Placing Eyes’ on the PWHL (Unique)

Group USA introduced residence the gold from the Olympics — and now followers cannot wait to cheer them on again on residence soil.

Hockey star Haley Winn spoke with PEOPLE in regards to the optimistic influence the 2026 Milan Video games has had on the game since Group USA defeated Canada 2-1 in additional time for a gold medal win, concluding an exciting match that marked her Olympic debut.

The 22-year-old defensive participant, who was chosen by the Boston Fleet with the second total decide within the first spherical of the 2025 PWHL Draft, credit the Olympics for shining a lightweight on the skilled ladies’s hockey league past the Winter Video games.

“I believe the Olympics did an amazing job of placing eyes particularly on ladies’s hockey. I believe the PWHL is unquestionably going to develop a lot and have a lot extra publicity,” she tells PEOPLE completely upon her return to Massachusetts following her success in Milan.

Winn pointed to the rapid impact on PWHL ticket gross sales after her teammate Megan Keller scored the “golden purpose” in additional time to seal the victory over Canada on Feb. 19, the U.S. ladies’s hockey group’s third Olympic gold medal together with their previous wins in 1998 and 2018.

“I heard proper after Keller scored the additional time winner, our TD [Garden] recreation was already doing nicely and I believe it offered out immediately,” she mentioned. The Fleet play most of their video games at Tsongas Heart in Lowell, Ma., however have a particular recreation on April 11 on the famed TD Backyard enviornment in Boston, the place the Boston Bruins usually play. It will likely be the primary PWHL recreation on the enviornment.

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“That simply goes to indicate a number of our video games are doing even higher. It is simply so cool,” Winn tells PEOPLE of the optimistic change the league is seeing in consequence. “I believe individuals realized the heights of girls’s hockey, and so they have been stunned to see how good we have been.”

She provides, “I believe it goes to indicate how a lot work that individuals, particularly the trailblazers of girls’s hockey, have put into making this league a factor — and I believe it’s simply so cool to see extra on it.”

“We’re so excited to be again,” Winn says about her return to the Fleet after dominating for weeks with Group USA. “I believe I felt actually grateful after I was over there as a result of I did not need the expertise to finish, however on the identical time I used to be so excited and so antsy to get again to Boston.”

“I believe that simply reveals what an amazing group we’ve got right here,” she continues. “Like I mentioned, the ladies have been so supportive and simply being again on the ice right this moment, there was a lot vitality. I believe everybody’s excited to play and simply be again collectively.”

Winn concludes, “I believe we’ve got a very particular group and all of us really feel that and we’re excited to clearly play on Saturday and proceed on to the remainder of the season.”

The Fleet at the moment have a 13-4 file this season. They’re on a six-game win streak as of March 10.