Canada Wins Gold At Women's World Championships, Defeats USA 3-2 in OT

The Canadian Women's Hockey Team has claimed Gold in the Women's World Championships, defeating team USA 3-2 in Overtime. This was Canada's first appearance in the WWC Gold Medal game since 2017, and they were up against an American team that had won gold in five straight tournaments.

Canada did not have an easy road to victory tonight, falling down 2-0 early in the game on a pair of goals by the USA's Alex Carpenter. The first, after a strong breakup of a 2-on-1 chance, saw Canada's defence lose their check and left Carpenter wide open in front to bang away at a couple of rebound chances, the second of which snuck past goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens. The second came on an American powerplay, where Carpenter battled in front of the net and managed to swing at a loose puck and bat it past Desbiens.

Canada entered the second period down by 2 but took less than five minutes to find the scoresheet. Brianne Jenner found herself in front of the net on a Canadian powerplay when a point shot rebounded out into the crease. Jenner managed to gather the loose puck, drag it around the left pad of American goaltender Nicole Hensley, and deposit it in the net. Under three minutes later, Jamie Lee Rattray tipped a point shot from Jocelyne Larocque past Hensley, and the game was knotted at 2.

The third period saw Canada take its fair share of penalties, with the Americans ending the game having iced their powerplay suqads a total of 5 times. However, the Canadian penalty kill was stifling and generated an equal number of chances as team USA while down a player. Nothing was decided after 60 minutes though, and the game went to 3-on-3 overtime. After chances were traded by both teams, Brianne Jenner set up Canadian captain Marie-Philip Poulin on a partial breakaway with a pinpoint seam pass through two American defenders. Poulin streaked in and fired a shot over the shoulder of Nicole Hensley that rang off the crossbar and down into the net before ricocheting back out into the crease.

THE GOLDEN GOAL! 🥇#WomensWorlds | #OurGameIsBack | @pou29 pic.twitter.com/tL3mbdYzLJ
— Hockey Canada (@HockeyCanada) September 1, 2021

It took about half a minute for the goal judges to officially rule it a goal, as the puck was only across the line for an instant, but soon the buzzer sounded and the Canadian women celebrated their Gold Medal victory. This is Marie-Philip Poulin's first Gold Medal as the captain of Team Canada, and she'll look to add another to her collection when the women take the ice in Beijing for the 2022 Winter Olympics in February. Congratulations to Canada's Women's Hockey Team!