Lesbian US and Canada ice hockey rivals marry each other

The captain of the US women’s Olympic ice hockey team has married her Canadian girlfriend and long-time rival on the ice.

Meghan Duggan, 31, and Gillian Apps, 34, have faced off against each other in the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics finals, which saw Apps’ Canadian team triumph both times.

The newlyweds aren’t the only North American lesbian sporting couple to hit the headlines this year, with US international footballer Megan Rapinoe and four-time Olympic gold medallist Sue Bird—who came out in 2017—becoming the first same-sex couple to feature on the cover of ESPN’s body issue in June.

The pair has four Olympic gold medals and 10 World Championships between them (gapps10/instagram)

It was only after Apps—who also won gold at the 2006 Games—had retired in 2015 that Duggan was finally able to get her hands on a gold medal, defeating Canada in the 2018 Winter Olympics final.

They also lined up on opposite sides in numerous World Championship finals, a competition in which Duggan had the clear edge, winning seven gold medals against Apps’ three.

But despite this fierce rivalry, the couple was able to forge a relationship off the ice which reached new heights when they married this week at the William Allen Farm in Maine.

The couple walk back down the aisle as wife and wife (mduggan10/twitter)

Posting photos of the happy day on Twitter, Meghan Duggan wrote: “The most incredible day of my entire life ❤️.”

And her new wife captioned her pictures by writing: “Nothing but smiles after this amazing weekend ❤️.”

People were touched by the wedding, with one tweeter writing: “THE CAPTAINS OF THE US AND CANADIAN WOMENS HOCKEY TEAMS GOT MARRIED THIS IS BASICALLY WORLD PEACE.”

People were happy about the wedding (jeannakadlec/twitter)

Last year, in a stunningly similar turn of events, Caroline Ouellette and Julie Chu—former captains of the Canada and US ice hockey teams—welcomed their newborn daughter Liv Chu-Ouellette into the world.

Ouellette captained Apps at the 2014 Winter Olympics while playing against Chu, who was captained by Duggan.