On the Olympic ice and in the booth, women are making hockey their own

Team USA and Team Canada made history on the ice during the gold medal game at the 2022 Winter Olympics. But it wasn’t the only bit of hockey history made that night.

On Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2022, Michigan native, Kaitlin Urka, NBC Sports and Olympics Producer made history by becoming the first woman ever to produce the women’s hockey gold medal game broadcast at the Winter Olympics, one of the 15 games Urka produced over the span of 17 days.

“I’m excited to have been the first, but I truly hope I’m not the last, and instead just one in a long line to come,” Urka told FanSided.

Wednesday night’s game was one for the record books, averaging 3.54 million viewers, more viewers than any NHL game this 2022 season and the second most-watched hockey game in the United States since 2019 — the most-watched NHL game in 2019 being Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals between the Boston Bruins and the St.Louis Blues, with an estimated nearly nine million viewers.

This year was the ninth time in Olympic history the U.S. and Canada have played against each other and the sixth time out of the seven women’s hockey gold medal games in Olympic history.

Of these meetings, Canada has won now four gold medals and the U.S. has won two, including their gold medal win in PyeongChang, South Korea in 2018.

“This is one of the fiercest rivalries in all of sports. I say that as a Michigan fan that has grown up in the intensity of the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry, this game has all of that hatred and then some. What makes this different is the sheer number of opportunities these women get to showcase their talents on a platform of this magnitude. This one game will stay with them for the next four years — and beyond. It was special to be a part of that and get to showcase it for the world to see,” said Urka.

Despite the intensity and historic importance surrounding the U.S. and Canada game, Urka isn’t a stranger to making history.

The 2022 Gold Medal Game wasn’t the first history-making hockey broadcast Kaitlin Urka has been involved in

In 2020, Urka also made history, organizing and producing the first-ever all-female broadcast in NHL history. This broadcast also included A.J. Mleczko, Kate Scott, Kendall Coyne Schofield, and many more notable women when it took place during the Chicago Blackhawks vs. St. Louis Blues game, which fell on March 8, International Women’s Day.

Although Urka had this previous experience, she also mentioned how producing at the Olympics, during COVID, was a new challenge unlike any other.

“Production in times of COVID is like no other. Add in production during an Olympics and COVID and it was a truly unique experience. I had talent both on the ground in Beijing and at home in Stamford, CT. I approached this game like I did every other… which I think was important to its success,” said Urka.

“I had already done a ton of research and prep on both teams, having covered all of Team USA’s games up to that point in the tournament, and many of Team Canada’s. I went in with a myriad of tape elements and graphics to support a variety of storylines that could play out. I worked with my talent to identify things they wanted to touch on during the show in order to make sure I had supporting material for those conversations as well. I had to make sure I took a step back when preparing for this game to remember that many of the viewers wouldn’t be intense hockey fans (like NHL viewers often are). These would be Olympic fans, casual sports fans, and people like my mom who knew nothing about the sport but understand and appreciate the rivalry. I needed to make sure I kept things big picture, and wasn’t afraid to repeat some storytelling from earlier in the Olympics in order to introduce players/storylines to new audiences,” said Urka.

Urka remains humble and grateful to her bosses at NBC for entrusting her with the enormous responsibility in these types of opportunities and believing in her skills, regardless of her gender.

“I didn’t get the assignment because I was a woman. I got the assignment because they thought I was the best person for the job and that was important to me,”

“When I was an intern I was nowhere near the point where they would allow me to produce a broadcast. I worked in the profiles and features unit and helped to gather b-roll that was used to craft the stories that aired as part of the setup to the live events. I do remember that in the final few days of competition in Beijing as an intern, my boss let me sit in the chair with the editor and help with one of the final essays of the games. I remember feeling so fortunate for that responsibility and grateful that he saw a talent in me and was willing to take a chance on having me do work that millions would eventually see. That was one of the first moments that I finally felt certain that I was capable of working in television as an actual career,” said Urka.

With all the work that Urka has done over the years, she is determined to write more women’s history in sports, paving the way for new generations to come.

“I hope that I proved once again that gender has nothing to do with one’s ability to achieve great things. I hope that someone, be it a young woman or a young man, heard my name at the end of the broadcast and was inspired to chase their own dream of playing or working in sports. Diversity matters. Representation matters. If I was able to be that example for someone and help inspire or motivate them to achieve their dreams then I would consider my career a success.”