It was too little, too late for Team USA.
Canada defeated the U.S. 3-2 in Thursday’s gold medal game at the 2022 Winter Olympics. The win gives Canada its fifth women’s hockey gold, while the U.S. will receive its fourth silver.
Marie Philip-Poulin scored in each of the previous three gold medal games against Team USA, including gold-clinching goals in 2010 and 2014. With two goals on Thursday, she now has seven career tallies in gold medal games. She became the first hockey player – men’s or women’s – to score in four Olympic gold medal contests.
After an early missed scoring chance for Team USA and a Canadian goal was waived off, Sarah Nurse put Canada on the board less than eight minutes into the game.
Then, Captain Clutch took over.
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Poulin netted her first goal with less than five minutes remaining in the opening frame.
She came back midway through the second period and brought the Canadian lead to 3-0.
With an assist on the play, Nurse set the record for most points in an Olympic hockey tournament (18).
The U.S. had overcome a three-goal deficit against Canada in the Olympic gold medal game before. After falling behind 4-1 in the third period at the 1998 Nagano Games, Team USA rattled off six unanswered goals to win the first ever women’s hockey gold medal.
A similar comeback was not in the cards this time, though.
Hilary Knight, playing in her fourth gold medal game, put Team USA on the board with a short-handed goal late in the second period.
Team USA pulled goaltender Alex Cavallini with over three minutes left in the game and scored on a six-on-four chance over the final 1:25 of regulation. Amanda Kessel made it a one-goal game with 12.5 seconds left, but the Americans did not have enough time to attempt an equalizer.
In the end, the U.S. held a 40-21 shot advantage, but Canada’s Ann-Renee Desbiens was a brick wall in net once again. Desbiens made 51 saves in Canada’s 4-2 round-robin win over the U.S. and followed that up with 38 saves in the gold medal match.
On the other side of the ice, Team USA goaltender Alex Cavallini made 18 saves.
Knight now has three Olympic silvers along with a gold from the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics. Kessel, Kendall Coyne Schofield, Brianna Decker – who was injured in Team USA’s first game of the tournament – and Lee Stecklein all earned their third Olympic medals. Nine Team USA players returned from Team’s USA’s 2018 roster, while eight players made their Olympic debuts in Beijing.
