Fortino

Jenner

Johnston

Rougeau

O Canada! Oh Big Red! With a little more than three minutes left in the Women’s Hockey Gold Medal game Feb. 20 at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, Cornell’s Brianne Jenner ’14 scored Canada’s first goal – setting into motion a sports resurgence for the ages.

Although the United States held a 2-0 lead with four minutes left in regulation, Canada – and the Cornellians who play for them – mounted a scoring squall to beat the United States in overtime, 3-2.

With a shade under a minute left in regulation time, Canada’s Marie-Philip Poulin tied the score at 2 after a pass from Cornell’s Rebecca Johnston ’12. With about 12 minutes left in overtime, Poulin scored a power-play, game-winning goal after a pass from Laura Fortino ’13.

Alumna Lauriane Rougeau ’13 is also a member of the Canadian team.

Altogether, Cornell had five Olympians compete in the Sochi games, and all five earned medals, as women's track and field talent Jamie Greubel ’06 won the bronze medal in the women’s bobsled.

The five total medals makes the 2014 Big Red Olympic contingent the most decorated in the history of the winter games for Cornell, and matches the best performance ever, which happened during the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, when rowers David Clark ’82 and Chip Lubsen ’77 both won silver, and swimmer Pedro Pablo Morales Jr., J.D. ’94, won two silver and one gold.

Prior to the Sochi games, six Cornellians earned medals in the Winter Olympics, one of whom was Johnston, who won the gold medal four years ago for the Canadian women’s hockey team in Vancouver. With her back-to-back gold medals, Johnston becomes the first-ever Big Red alumna to earn a pair of medals in the Winter Olympics and the fifth Cornellian to earn multiple medals, joining Morales (swimming – one silver, one gold, 1984; two gold, 1992); Kevin Freeman ’63 (equestrian – three silvers, 1964, 1968, 1972); Shelley Mann ’61 (swimming – one gold, one silver, 1956); and Charles Moore ’51 (track and field – one gold, one silver, 1952).

Both the Canadian and the U.S. national anthems are played before each Cornell women’s and men’s hockey game at Lynah Rink.

 Julie Greco, associate director of athletic communications, contributed to this report.