Palos Heights Native Kendall Coyne Schofield Takes Fourth Shot At Olympic Gold

PALOS HEIGHTS, IL — Palos Heights-native Kendall Coyne Schofield, 33, is taking her fourth shot at Olympic gold when she travels to Milan-Cortina next month with the U.S. Olympic women’s hockey team. The Sandburg High School graduate will be joined by 10 other returning players from the 2022 women’s team, who dropped a 3-2 contest to Canada in the Gold Medal Game to take home the silver.

Growing up in Palos Heights, Coyne was a natural athlete who excelled in multiple sports. She's the daughter of John and Ahlise Coyne and has two brothers, Kevin and Jake, and one sister, Bailey. She's married to NFL player Michael Schofield, a fellow Sandburg graduate and a Super Bowl winner with the Denver Broncos. He’s also played for the L.A. Chargers and Carolina Panthers.

This will be her fourth time representing the United States in three Olympic Winter Games (gold-2018, and silver- 2022 and 2014. As a member of the U.S. Women’s National Team, she has earned a spot on 12 International Ice Hockey Federation Women’s World Championship teams since 2011, winning gold and silver medals, as well as nine Four Nations Cups and one IIHF Twelve Nations Invitational Tournament Series.

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Despite her repeated trips to the Winter Games, Coyne Schofield said the thrill of being placed on the Olympic team roster never gets old.

“Growing up in hockey, there obviously aren’t a lot of girls,” she said in a 2022 introductory video for the U.S. Olympic women’s hockey team. “So, I really appreciated all of the youth coaches who treated me just like any of the other hockey players. I was a hockey player, I was a team member. I wasn’t anything different. That really helped me get to where I am today because they made me feel like I belong in the sport.”

Adding to her prestige, Coyne Schofield broke through the glass ceiling in 2020 when she became the first woman to be hired as a player-development coach and youth hockey growth specialist for the Chicago Blackhawks.

Coyne Schofield realized a dream in 2023, when she signed a pro-deal with the Minnesota Frost franchise in the inaugural season of the Professional Women’s Hockey League, where she currently plays.

The US Olympic Women's Ice Hockey Team has medaled in all seven Olympic appearances to date, since the category was established in 1998.