Abbey Murphy Returns For Second Shot At Olympic Gold For Team USA Women's Hockey

EVERGREEN PARK, IL — It’s hard to believe that four years have flown by since the last Winter Olympics in 2022, but Evergreen Park native Abbey Murphy returns for a second shot at Olympic gold for the Team USA women’s hockey team.

Murphy, 23, who is slated to graduate from the University of Minnesota later this year, was officially named to the Olympic team last week.

The Team USA hockey rosters are complete for the Milano Cortina 2026 Games, taking place from Feb. 6 to 22, and the accompanying Paralympic Games, scheduled for March 6-15.

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The Mother McAuley graduate got her start pushing buckets of pucks around a local ice rink before learning how to skate. The ambitious teen developed her game with her sights set on a higher stage. Murphy has played collegiate hockey for University of Minnesota’s women’s hockey team (WHCA).

The 5-foot-5 forward was part of the 2022 USA women’s hockey team, which brought home the silver medal from the winter games in Bejiing. As a member of the U.S. Women’s National Hockey Team, Murphy has played in four international Ice Hockey Federation Women's World Championships (gold- 2023, 2025; silver- 2021, 2024), and represented the United States in various other international events.

"Murph's a player who brings a tremendous amount of speed and skill to the game," Team USA coach Joel Johnson told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune in 2022. “When she's got the puck, she's a dynamic player, she's deceptive. She can create offense for herself, which is not always common. She's a young player, so she's still learning how to play without the puck and playing an honest game.”

The second-time Olympian is the daughter of Ed and Lynne Murphy, has two brothers, Patrick and Dominic. Her earliest hockey memory is at age six, skating with all the boys at the local rink, according to her USA Team bio.

Murphy joins her idol, four-time Olympian Kendall Coyne Schofield, of Palos Heights on the 2026 U.S. Olympic Women’s Ice Hockey Team, with 11 players out of the 23-person roster who have previous Olympic experience.