ROCHESTER (OSV News) — The Olympic gold medal hanging from Haley Winn’s neck was a crowning touch on her rapid rise to ice hockey’s mountaintop.

Winn, a graduate of Bishop Kearney High School in the Rochester suburb of Irondequoit, and her United States women’s team struck gold February 19, thanks to a 2-1 overtime win over Canada in the Olympic final in Milan, Italy. Winn played stellar defense throughout the 2026 Winter Games, helping her team score 33 goals in seven games while allowing just two goals.

“It’s crazy to think about. It’s so hard to put into words,” Winn, 22, told the Catholic Courier, newspaper of the Diocese of Rochester, in a February 22 telephone interview from Milan. “Just to be a part of something so much bigger than myself, it’s so special. There’s been so many emotions, a lot of tears of joy, disbelief.”

The gold-medal win came in Winn’s first Olympics and followed three world titles with other U.S. national teams on which she played. She asserted that her hockey success was only made possible through two mainstays in her life, her family and her Catholic faith.

“I wouldn’t be (an Olympic champion) without them,” Winn said of her parents, Janet and Mike, and older brothers Casey, Ryan, and Tommy, all five of whom were on hand in Milan to cheer her on. “It’s their medal as much as mine.”

Winn said she also drew inspiration from praying together with several U.S. teammates before each Olympic game.

“Christ is my identity, my foundation,” she said. “I think it’s the thing that keeps me grounded.”

A comeback for the ages

Staying grounded was no easy task in the gold-medal contest, as Winn’s U.S. team faced a 1-0 deficit until Hilary Knight’s goal tied the score with just over two minutes left in regulation. Megan Keller followed with the game-winner 4:07 into sudden-death overtime, setting off a wild U.S. celebration.

“I just had a sense of belief and confidence that as soon as we got that tying goal, it was over,” Winn said, lauding the ability and cohesiveness of her U.S. teammates: “It’s the best team I could have played on, a great group of girls. Everyone just has so much trust in each other and gives you the confidence to play your own game.”

Winn, a 5-foot-5-inch defenseman wearing uniform No. 8, logged substantial ice time in every Olympic game. Offensively, she netted her first Olympic goal, in a 5-0 win over Switzerland on February 9, and three assists during the Games.

En route to her Olympic success, Winn spent her high school career with the BK Selects Hockey Academy for boys and girls, playing in elite youth events across the U.S. and Canada.

Winn, as well as BK Selects players from other states and countries, resided in dormitories on Bishop Kearney’s top floor while attending the school, where Winn’s mother is on the board of directors. She was one of eight BK Selects alumnae to play in the Olympics, five for the U.S. squad, yet was the only Rochester-area resident among those eight.

From Clarkson to the pros

Upon graduating from Bishop Kearney in 2021, Winn played Division I hockey at Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York. In her senior season, she served as co-captain and was named ECAC Player of the Year as well as first team All-American. She graduated in 2025 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology.

Winn also won International Ice Hockey Federation women’s world championships in 2023 and 2025 and was on the U.S. under-18 national team that earned the world title in 2020. In June 2025, she was selected second overall by the Boston Fleet in the Professional Women’s Hockey League draft. Through late February, she had helped the Fleet to a first-place showing in the eight-team PWHL.

Despite the time demands of playing top-level hockey, Winn makes ample time for her Catholic faith and is adamant about sharing it with others. While attending Clarkson, she joined a team Bible study group as a sophomore, and by her senior year, she was overseeing it.

Faith as her foundation

Winn noted that her faith kicked into another gear while still at Bishop Kearney. Through attending Masses at Rochester’s St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Parish with other team members, Winn developed a friendship with Father Robert Werth, a Diocese of Rochester priest who assists in the parish. Winn’s parents eventually became good friends with Father Werth as well.

“Father Bob and Haley have really helped Mike, and I have become strong in our faith through the years,” Janet Winn said, noting that they often attend Sunday Masses that Father Werth celebrates when they’re not traveling for their daughter’s hockey games.

“He is amazing. I don’t have enough good things to say about him,” Winn remarked about Father Werth. The priest, in turn, lauded the star hockey athlete: “She is the best, the most humble person, maybe even a little shy.”

The same cannot easily be said about Winn’s brothers. Casey, Ryan, and Tommy became viral sensations during the Olympics with their zany outfits and videos; their supportive antics even led to the four siblings being featured on NBC’s “Today” show.

Meanwhile, Winn was part of a U.S. squad that, according to published reports, drew an average of 5.3 million viewers, peaking at 7.7 million during overtime in the final against Canada, making it the most-watched women’s ice hockey game on record.

As she continues to gain popularity around the world, Winn said she will utilize that attention not for personal gain, but to continue voicing her religious beliefs.

“I am so blessed that God is using me to glorify him on this platform,” she stated.

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Mike Latona is senior staff writer at the Catholic Courier, newspaper of the Diocese of Rochester. This story was originally published by the Catholic Courier and distributed through a partnership with OSV News.