Pittsburgh Superstars: Brianne McLaughlin

BEIJING, China — The U.S. women’s ice hockey team is playing Canada Monday night in a rematch of the gold medal game from the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang.

Pittsburgh superstar Brianne McLaughlin is a former teammate of some of the players.

She is a two-time Olympic silver medalist and a recording breaking goaltender at Robert Morris University.

McLaughlin said the Olympics are some of the best memories of her life.

“The Olympics are such a cool time to hear awesome stories, she said. “You know, like you can get flooded with all these bad things happening in the world. You could turn on the Olympics and hear stories of comebacks and triumphs and to seeing everybody so proud to have the USA on their chest.”

McLaughlin knows the feeling of coming up short in the storied rivalry between U.S.A. and Canada. She won two Olympic silver medals, losing to team Canada both times.

She knew in 2018 things would be different.

“Having that many people in the locker room, knowing what that feels like their brain was, this is not happening again. There’s no way I’m standing on that blue line listening to the Canadian National Anthem, again,” she said.

2018 was the first time in 20 years that Team U.S.A. beat Canada for the gold.

McLaughlin watched the win from home and jumped off her couch after the final save in the shootout. She said that group of players just knew how to win, and she sees that in this year’s squad as well.

“We’ve got that leadership in the locker room, and then a bunch of young kids that only know how to win gold medals,” she said.

McLaughlin hopes Team U.S.A. brings home a second consecutive gold in Beijing.

Her husband, Logan Bittle, was named head coach for the RMU women’s hockey team when they resume competition in 2023.

Raw interview: Channel 11 talks with two-time Olympic silver medalist Brianne McLaughlin Watch the raw interview of Bill Phillips' conversation with former Robert Morris goaltender Brianne McLaughlin, who recently won her second Olympic silver medal in Sochi.

©2022 Cox Media Group