With the score tied 1-1 in overtime, the United States women’s hockey team found themselves locked in a pitched Olympic battle with longtime rival Canada. One clean look at the net would decide it. 

When the opportunity came, U.S. defenseman Megan Keller made a quick move to the backhand and lifted the puck past the goaltender, sealing a 2-1 victory and sending her teammates spilling over the boards in celebration. The gold medal belonged to the United States.

The Feb. 19 win drew an average of 5.3 million viewers on NBC — peaking at 7.7 million during overtime — making it the most-watched women’s hockey game on record.

For the Bishop Kearney High School community in Irondequoit, a suburb of Rochester, New York, the moment carried special meaning. Five of the players wearing red, white and blue once walked the halls of this small Catholic school:

Haley Winn (Class of 2021), a Rochester native, played as a defenseman at Bishop Kearney before continuing her career at Clarkson University. She now plays in the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) for the Boston Fleet.

Laila Edwards (Class of 2022), a forward-turned-defenseman at the University of Wisconsin, became the first Black American woman to compete for the U.S. Olympic women’s hockey team.

Caroline “KK” Harvey (2018-2020), a defenseman at Wisconsin, recorded two goals and seven assists in seven games and was named the tournament’s “Most Valuable Player.”

Kirsten Simms (2019-2020), now a forward at Wisconsin, competed for Bishop Kearney’s 19-and-under (19U) “Selects” team. 

Ava McNaughton (Class of 2023), a goaltender, is also a junior at Wisconsin.

The Olympic spotlight extended beyond these five players. Brent Hill, who served as head coach of the 19U Selects girls’ team from 2019 to 2021, was an assistant coach on the gold-winning U.S. squad. International alumnae also took the ice, including Nina Christof (Class of 2022) and Jule Schiefer (Class of 2020) of Team Germany, and Michaela Hesová (Class of 2024) of Team Czechia. 

Their presence on the Olympic stage is a product of a program that did not exist a decade ago.

Small Steps to Olympic Glory

Founded in 1962 under the supervision of the Congregation of Christian Brothers, Bishop Kearney has long emphasized faith, discipline and academics. Like many other Catholic schools across the country, however, it faced mounting challenges in the early 2010s: declining enrollment and financial pressures.

School leaders began looking for bold solutions. Inspired by the success of a nearby boys’ hockey program that had revitalized another struggling school, they wondered whether an elite girls’ hockey program might do the same in Irondequoit. They turned to Kathy Pippy, vice president of girls’ hockey operations for Premier Ice Prospects, to help bring the vision to life.

After more than a year of planning with school officials and alumni, upgrading facilities and constructing dormitories, the BK Selects Girls Hockey program launched in 2016. It quickly expanded to include 16-and-under (16U) and 19-and-under (19U) teams competing at the highest levels of junior hockey across the United States and Canada. A boys’ Selects program followed in 2020.

“We wanted these kids from all over the world and country to come here to live, train and receive an amazing Catholic education,” said Cari Coen, director of girls hockey. “Here, they have a normal day-to-day high school life where they can go to prom and play a spring sport — [all] while chasing their dreams athletically and academically.”

With more than 400 students in grades 6-12, Bishop Kearney is widely known for its elite hockey programs. This year, 40 girls and 80 boys live in the school’s dorms and compete throughout the hockey season. Excluding additional fees and expenses, tuition ranges from $9,000-$15,000, and, according to the school’s website, 85% of families receive some form of financial aid.

Other Catholic schools across the country host similarly successful hockey programs, including Mount Saint Charles Academy in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, which also offers boarding for its hockey players; Catholic Memorial in West Roxbury, Massachusetts; and Holy Family Catholic High School in Victoria, Minnesota, among others. However, none have matched the Olympic success of Bishop Kearney’s alumnae. 

On Feb. 26, school officials announced the launch of a campaign to build a new on-campus Performance Training Center, featuring a full ice rink and field house for all sports, with completion expected for the 2027-2028 school year.

Even so, school leaders insist athletics is only one part of the mission.

“Academically, athletically and spiritually, it is our first priority [for students] to become the best person they can be,” Coen told the Register. Hockey, she further asserted, is a “great reflection” of life, in which students can learn to “have adversity and grow through it.”

That formation was evident in the five alumnae who skated onto Olympic ice this winter.

“The Olympians, while they were here, were in the National Honor Society,” Coen said. “They were all a part of the leadership within the school, taking AP classes and getting confirmed.”

“These were all small little pieces of their character growing in a big step to where they are today,” she added.

Those small steps to Olympic glory, Coen noted, came from the “support of a village.”

“At Bishop Kearney, we have an amazing village in terms of just how many teachers, how many administrators, how many different people throughout the community of Bishop Kearney want to have success for all their students,” she said.

That village extends far beyond the school’s 42-acre campus. While Coen and other members of the hockey staff traveled to Milan to cheer on their former students in person, Irondequoit celebrated closer to home, hosting a spirited watch party at Barry’s Old School Irish pub, among other locations.

‘Everything There in One Place’

Perhaps no show of support captured hearts more than the viral efforts of Haley Winn’s three older brothers. Donned in various red, white and blue-themed outfits, Casey, Ryan and Tommy Winn created lighthearted videos to cheer their sister on and, in the process, shine a spotlight on women’s sports.

“It was a literal whirlwind of how viral they became,” their mother, Janet Winn, told the Register. “I don’t know if we even knew how big it was at the time because we were living in the moment.”

For Janet and her husband, Mike, that moment was years in the making.

Like many families of elite athletes, the Winns spent countless hours balancing sports practices, schoolwork and social obligations among their four children. When Haley enrolled at Bishop Kearney, they found something different: a place where those pieces fit together.

“That’s what made Bishop Kearney so special — having everything there in one place,” said Janet. “You’re surrounded by people that have the same goals and dreams, and it just makes for a good outcome.”

Since Haley’s graduation in 2021, Janet has served on Bishop Kearney’s board of trustees. While the Winns are grateful for the school’s elite hockey development, they say what mattered most happened away from the rink.

“There’s a lot of hockey schools out there,” Mike said. “But there’s support [at Bishop Kearney] in all aspects of life, including faith, and that’s what … allows the girls to truly flourish and become outstanding people.”

For Haley, that faith took root during her freshman year in the Selects program, which, as Mike noted, allowed her to “identify as something more than just a hockey player,” especially in the many “failures and hurdles” she came across in the sport.

“Christ is my identity, my foundation,” Haley told the Catholic Courier, the newspaper of the Diocese of Rochester, following the Olympic final. “I think it’s the thing that keeps me grounded.”

That grounding began with a simple tradition: Before every game, Selects players pray together in the locker room. According to Cari Coen, this practice began with the very first game in 2016.

“They take [prayer] very seriously,” she said, “and that’s been passed down to every single team before they go out to battle for every single game.” 

For Haley, that habit endured well beyond high school. She continued participating in and leading Bible studies at Clarkson University and prayed with various teammates in the locker room ahead of each Olympic game. Even amid the intensity of the international games, she kept up her daily practice of sharing a Scripture verse with a friend back home. 

For her parents, those moments of witness mean more than any medal.

“It makes us so proud to see how many people she’s been able to touch outside of just athletics, but with her faith,” Mike said.

The gold-medal game drew millions of viewers. At Bishop Kearney, however, the lasting impact is measured less by overtime goals than by what happens in the years before and after them.

Many of these alumnae have faced setbacks, injuries and uncertain stretches in their careers. None of their paths have been perfectly linear. What sustained them, said Coen, was something far deeper than talent.

“Being able to use their faith and their strong character they developed here … and continue to compete at the highest level is just so special,” she said. 

That, Coen added, is the real measure of the program’s success: not simply producing elite athletes, but forming women prepared to carry their convictions with them wherever the game — or life — takes them.