THE CANADIAN PRESS
CALGARY — Canada’s bid to win the first women’s world under-18 hockey championship fell short in a stinging 5-2 loss to the U.S. on Saturday.
Canada won the gold medal in the inaugural women’s world hockey championship in 1990 in Ottawa, but the U.S. will carry the mantle as the first champion of the world under-18 tournament in 2008 in Calgary.
"Beating them in their home barn with all their fans here was amazing," declared U.S. forward Amanda Kessel. "I won a national championship last year and it doesn’t even compare to this."
Kessel, sister of Boston Bruins forward Phil Kessel, Brooke Ammerman, Meagan Mangene, Kendall Koyne and Brianna Decker scored for the U.S., who rattled off four straight goals before Canada countered with one late in the second period.
Carolyne Prevost of Sarnia, Ont., and Jessica Jones of Picton, Ont., replied for the Canadians, who were devastated following the loss of the gold.
"Team Canada is not used to losing," goaltender Delayne Brian said. "I think we played well throughout the tournament, but we just didn’t come out on top."
U.S. goaltender Alyssa Grogan stopped 26 of 28 shots for the victory, while Winnipeg’s Brian made 22 saves on 27 shots in the loss.
Grogan was named the tournament’s top goaltender, Canadian captain Lauriane Rougeau of Beaconsfield, Que., was chosen best defenceman and forward Marie-Philip Poulin of Beauceville, Que., given the nod as top forward.
Poulin and teammate Camille Dumais tied for the tournament lead in points with 14 apiece. Poulin, 16, was a standout for Canada in the tournament and she fought back tears disappointment following the game
"They played well and we missed our chances," she said. "They were pretty fast and they played well as a team and their power-play was very good."
Canada had sailed through the tournament, outscoring the opposition 45-4 heading into the final.
But the U.S. was a faster team than Canada, which meant the Canadians were beaten to the puck, forechecked relentlessly in their own zone and had trouble shaking defenders when they had possession.
"All week we had blowout games and I don’t think we were quite expecting them to come out so strong," Brian said.
The Americans scored four goals before Prevost scored a power-play goal at 18:17 of the second period to give the Canadians a lift heading into the third. She re-directed a shot from the blue-line from Rougeau past Grogan.
Jones pulled the hosts within two goals at 2:20 of the third. She took two strides in from the blue-line and let a high shot go that fooled Grogan.
But Kessel padded the U.S. lead again with a power-play goal at 12:14 of the third.
Decker put a shot off the crossbar and in at 8:14 of the second period and Coyne banged a rebound past Brian at 2:29.
Canada was outshot 13-9 by the visitors in the first period, but had a 13-8 edge in the second. Grogan, however, gobbled everything up and did not give up many rebounds.
Ammerman made it 2-0 for the U.S. with a backhand shot over Brian’s left shoulder at 18:48 of the first period.
Mangene converted a feed from behind the net from Ammerman and she scored bottom corner at 12:12.
.Tickets to Saturday’s championship game were sold out the previous day.
Attendance over the 18 games played was about 10,000 at Father David Bauer Arena, which holds about 2,000 people, and the adjacent Norma Bush Arena, which holds about 300.
The Czech Republic beat Sweden 4-2 in the earlier bronze medal game, which was a triumph for the Czechs as their national women’s team has yet to qualify for the ‘A’ world championship.
Notes: Germany, Finland, Switzerland, Russia finished fifth to eighth. … The site of the 2009 world women’s under-18 championship has yet to be announced.