Students cheer on Canada’s women’s hockey team in gold medal game

Students cheered on Canada’s women’s hockey team as they faced off against the U.S. for an Olympic gold medal. CTV’s Krista Simpson reports.

Students across Ontario gathered in classrooms, libraries and gymnasiums on Thursday afternoon to watch Canada’s gold medal hockey game.

At St. Kateri Tekakwitha Catholic Elementary School in Kitchener, Grade 6 classes gathered in the library to cheer on the women’s team play the U.S.

“It’s just so exciting because we get to be proud of our country,” said student Emely Blanco.

Premier Doug Ford would have approved the watch party. On social media, the night before the match, he said he had instructed the Ministry of Education to make sure all students could watch the remaining Olympic hockey games during school hours.

“Let’s all come together to cheer on Team Canada as they bring home Olympic gold!” read the post on Ford’s X account.

The students at St. Kateri have already watched a number of the Olympic hockey games. Teachers Sarah Brown and Janet Jack call it a once-every-four-years opportunity.

“Both of us think it’s pretty culturally important and pretty socially important that they should know this is happening and this is our country,” Brown told CTV News. “We’re pretty pumped that they’re as excited as we are.”

“I think it’s amazing we get to be with our classes and watch their joy of watching the game,” Jack added, noting some of the students play hockey and are familiar with the game while others are just learning. “I feel like it’s a win-win for everybody.”

Carter Downs is one of the students who plays hockey. He offered the following advice for Team Canada as the first period got underway: “Just play their game and don’t get intimidated by the other team.”

Over at St. Teresa of Calcutta Catholic Elementary School in Cambridge, the Olympics are also a springboard for learning.

“From place values, when we see the difference of a gold and a bronze medal being a tenth of a second. Talking about the physics behind the game of curling, what causes the rock to curl and not curl, like friction. And also, graph building with the medal tables,” teacher Gregory Da Costa explained.

Classes at St. Teresa watched Thursday’s game in their gymnasium.

“I was amazed because usually that doesn’t happen very often,” said Grade 6 student Kai Johnson. “I was excited.”

Everyone was rooting for Canada and were confident they could win gold.

“Canada’s a really good country and their team is good. I’ve watched it and they’re really good,” said Mariana Acosta, another Grade 6 student.

Emotions peaked when Canada’s Kristin O’Neill scored in the second period, putting Canada ahead 1-0.

“Everyone was like cheering and running around. It was just crazy,” Grade 6 student Alexis Martins said.

The school day ended before the game was over, meaning students missed it when the United States tied the game with only about two minutes to go in the third period. The Americans ultimately won the game in overtime.

Team Canada, meantime, will leave Italy with silver medals.

There is also more hockey action to come. On Friday, the men’s team faces off against Finland for their own chance to win gold.