PYEONGCHANG, South Korea -- The opening of the Canadian women’s ice hockey team’s gold medal defense headlined Ivy action on Sunday, Feb. 11, in PyeongChang. 
 
Led by Dartmouth women’s ice hockey head coach Laura Schuler, the Canadian women look to extend arguably the greatest Winter Olympic dynasty. Since Schuler helped her country to a silver medal as a player in 1998 in Nagano—the first Winter Olympics to include women’s ice hockey—the Canadians have enjoyed a 20-year reign at the top of the world, winning four-straight Olympic gold medals.
 
This year’s Canadian side is powered by Ivy League alumnae—with 6-of-23 competitors hailing from Ancient Eight institutions. Four Ivies are looking to repeat as gold medalists with Hockey Canada, while two are making their Olympic debuts in PyeongChang.
 
Dartmouth alum Laura Stacey (11:14) and Cornell product Jillian Saulnier (11:25) joined the four Big Red Olympic returners—Laura Fortino (22:46), Rebecca Johnston (16:26), Brianne Jenner (16:14) and Lauriane Rougeau (16:11) in contributing to the 5-0 blowout victory over the Olympic Athletes from Russia.
 
Cornell alumna Johnston tallied two goals and an assist to lead the Canadian club, while fellow Big Red alumnae Jenner and Saulnier each added an assist in the team’s Olympic opener. Fortino paced all Canadian skaters with 22:46 of ice time for head coach Schuler.
 
The lone other Ivy to compete Sunday­, Patrick Caldwell—a United States cross-country skier from Dartmouth—finished 51st with a time of 1:23:18.1 in the 15km + 15km skiathlon. The event featured a Norwegian medal sweep, the second podium sweep of the XXIII Olympic Winter Games.
 
Stay tuned to IvyLeague.com/Olympics and #OlympicIvy on social media for continuous coverage of the Ivies in PyeongChang from opening to closing ceremony.