Olympics: Long Islanders gather in Dix Hills to watch the US women's hockey win the gold medal

As Megan Keller’s overtime goal clinched the U.S. women’s hockey team’s 2-1 win over Canada in Thursday’s Olympics gold medal game in Milan, one crowd on Long Island went berserk.

The Town of Huntington hosted a watch party for the game at Clark Gillies Arena in Dix Hills Park, and plenty of girls and boys on February school break were in attendance.

The crowd was palpably nervous for most of the afternoon after Canada’s Kristin O’Neill scored a shorthanded goal to open the scoring 54 seconds into the second period. But the tension broke when Hilary Knight tied it with 2:04 left in the third period, ultimately sending the game to overtime. Keller’s game-winner resulted in a frenzy of American pride in Dix Hills, as Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird” — the Americans’ goal song — rang out as well as roars of “USA! USA! USA!”

“After the first goal, it was really tense because everyone thought they were not going to score,” said Quinn Falco, 12, of Lindenhurst. “So when everyone scored, it was really exciting.”

She added: “It was a real comeback.”

Her mother, Bernadette Falco, 59, of Lindenhurst, replied: “You ain’t kidding.”

The game was played on a massive blow-up projector on one of Dix Hills Park’s two ice rinks, which features bleacher seating. On the other rink, fans had the opportunity to skate before and during the game.

Dix Hills Park offered free hot chocolate and popcorn. Plenty of girls in attendance also were part of Team Long Island, one of two girls travel ice hockey organizations on the Island, and participated in clinics after the game. Dani Rylan Kearney — the founder and former commissioner of the National Women’s Hockey League, the first North American pro women’s hockey league to pay its players — also was at the watch party.

“It's just an amazing day to celebrate girls and women's ice hockey and how far it's come,” said Rylan Kearney, currently based in West Islip. “And to see all the girls running around and watching the game on the big projector and everything that the town of Huntington has done to make this just a great celebration of the sport, it's been really, really special.”

She knows some of the women who played in the gold medal game, either from playing with them as a player or from when they played in the NWHL, which ultimately became the Premier Hockey Federation and was succeeded by the Professional Women’s Hockey League.

Rylan Kearney noted how the dreams of kids “get a little bigger” when they see the game on a stage like Thursday’s.

“It's been growing exponentially for decades, and it's awesome to see the spike in registration every four years when this amazing rivalry between U.S. and Canada is highlighted,” she said. “It'll definitely show next year when even more girls come to the rink because of how many girls will be inspired to play because of this game today.”

Frank Heal, 54, of Floral Park, was at Dix Hills Park with his two daughters: Alexa, who plays for the 14U Team Long Island squad, and Keira, on the 10U Team Long Island group. They were wearing their U.S. jerseys Thursday as part of the energetic crew cheering on the team.

“It all starts with the high level, and it trickles down,” Heal said. “These girls are all inspired by the professional players and college players.”

Both Emmanuelle Stein, 12, and Ashley Mehlrose, 12, are hockey players from Cold Spring Harbor who were skating before the game. They both embraced the idea of the watch party and how much the sport continues to grow.

“It’s cool that they’re doing this,” Mehlrose said.

Said Stein: “It's just really cool to see how far girls hockey has come and how good they're getting.”

Canada gave the U.S. all it could handle Thursday, a vast change from the Americans’ 5-0 win in the preliminary round on Feb. 10. It was the seventh gold medal game between the countries in eight Winter Olympics, and the third victory for the U.S.

The Falcos both donned jerseys of U.S. captains who wore No. 21, with Bernadette repping Cammi Granato of the 1998 women’s gold medal team and Quinn repping Mike Eruzione of the 1980 men’s “Miracle on Ice” team. They both play ice hockey, too.

“It's fantastic,” Bernadette said. “I love it. I love that I can share it with her.”