BRAMPTON, Ont. – In a crazy game that saw less offence than either side is accustomed to, a healthy chunk of play for the special teams and an ever-present rivalry solidified further, Team Canada pulled off a 4-3 shootout win over Team USA on Monday night.
The 175th all-time meeting between the two sides and their 33th at the IIHF Women’s World Championship, Canada and the U.S. met at the CAA Centre looking to go undefeated in preliminary round play. Canada ultimately proved to be successful, grabbing the No. 1 seed with 11 of the 12 available points.
“We all know those games are going until the end whistle and I think that’s what happened tonight, and that’s what you train for,” said captain Marie-Philip Poulin. “You want to play with the best, against the best and that’s why it was a delight to be able to come out with the win tonight. We’re very happy and just gotta keep going.”
“I think there’s some really positive takeaways,” added newly-appointed USA captain Hilary Knight on her side’s performance. “I think the things that bit us, we just clean up. It’s really encouraging, really proud of the way our group fought.”
The intensity between the teams could be felt the second the puck touched the ice, but the game’s action really got started when the U.S.’s Abby Roque took a tripping penalty to put Canada on the power play.
However, the Canadians were unable to capitalize on the power play and minutes later when Claire Thompson took a delay of game call. Hannah Bilka put the U.S. up 1-0 at 8:45 of the first period.
Canada’s offence wasn’t held off too much longer as Sarah Fillier, the team’s current leader in points, tied the game 1-1 less than four minutes later. She picked up Sarah Nurse’s rebound to bury the puck past American netminder Aerin Frankel.
The beginning of the second period only saw Canada get even hotter. Poulin scored international career goal No. 103 to give the team a one-goal lead after they were treated to a two-man advantage thanks to some undisciplined play – in the form of back-to-back tripping penalties – from the U.S.
While the Americans managed to earn a third consecutive tripping penalty a few minutes later, in addition to a delay of game call not long after it elapsed, Canada was unsuccessful in its efforts to covert on those chances.
The respective special teams continued to be put to work when the U.S. went on the power play with a little more than five minutes to go in the second due to an interference call against Renata Fast. Canada managed to kill off their opponent’s two-minute advantage and subsequently headed into the second intermission with the 2-1 lead intact.
When asked about how his special teams handled being used so much on this night, Canada’s head coach Troy Ryan voiced his overall pleasure.
“I (liked) some of our looks,” he said. “I think there’s still some things on the power play that we can clean up, and the penalty kill did a pretty good job just controlling pucks along the wall.”
The theme of back-and-forth power plays persisted throughout the third, with Canada’s Fillier taking a first penalty for slashing, followed by a four-on-four opportunity after each team were called for differing offences. After that, the teams got a good run at five-on-five and things stayed on the quieter side. That is, until they didn’t.
With under three minutes to go in the game, the U.S. pulled their goaltender in the hopes of generating another goal. Canada’s Laura Stacey bagged an empty-netter with help from Emily Clark and Claire Thompson.
While the building erupted, fans were quickly quieted when Knight scored to make it 3-2 with 39 seconds to go. There was a lengthy review of the play following a coach’s challenge for offside but to the crowd’s dismay, the goal ultimately stood.
The chaos actually didn’t end there. Frankel once against left the ice to give the U.S. the extra attacker, and this time it definitely worked in their favour. Amanda Kessel unbelievably tied the game at three apiece with a mere 3.4 seconds remaining in regulation.
Heading into overtime, the pressure was unsurprisingly turned up a notch.
While each team received yet another power play opportunity, neither was able to find the back of the net, moving the game to a shootout.
After nine rounds and some insane goaltending from both ends of the rink, Canada’s Jamie Lee Rattray scored the winner. But all the credit post-game went to Ann-Renee Desbiens – playing on her 29th birthday – for keeping Canada in the competition front start to finish.
“I guess the girls know it, I love shootouts so I was super excited for them. But I guess I wish we would have won them earlier,” Desbiens said.
“As a goalie it’s something I really enjoyed in the past and you’ve just got to stop one puck at a time and hope that your teammates are gonna come with an important goal – and Rattray did that for us. Hockey game is never over until it’s over. And I guess we saw it today.”
If this game truly is a preview for the final – as we all anticipate it will be – then we’re in for one heck of an entertaining gold medal game.
Elsewhere at the tournament:
Finland 5, Hungary 0
The Finns stay perfect in Group B after winning their final preliminary game over Hungary to start off Women’s Worlds play on Monday morning.
Both teams had limited one another to just two shots on goal nearing the midway mark of the first period, until Nelli Latinen scored the first goal of the game at 11:26. The primary assist went to Petra Nieminen who leads the team with eight points at the tournament. Finland then got three more on the board from Jenni Hiirikoski, Jenniina Nylund and Emilia Vesa over the course of the second period.
After an almost entirely goalless third period, Finnish defender Ronja Savolainen put one last tally on the board for her team with just 13 seconds left to go. Hungary goaltenders Aniko Nemeth and Zsuzsa Revesz made 31 saves combined while their team – unable to produce offensively – recorded 15 shots on goal. Sanni Vanhanen led Finland in game points, notching two assists. Hungary has a chance to bounce back from the loss with a game against Germany on Tuesday.
Switzerland 4, Japan 3
In the second game of the day, the Swiss secured their first win at this year’s tournament after rallying back from two deficits against Japan.
Remi Koyama scored on Japan’s second shot of the game and another goal from Yoshino Enomoto on the power play put the team up 2-0 heading into the first intermission. Switzerland’s first goal came in the second period, also on the man advantage, when Lara Christen’s wrist shot got past Japanese goaltender Riko Kawaguchi.
The Swiss were then able to tie the game just 21 seconds later with a goal from Nicole Vallario. Japan was able to regain the lead after Aoi Shiga scored on a play where her sister, Akane Shiga, earned the primary assist.
In the third period, a Swiss goal from Alina Muller once again got the game all tied up. Lara Stalder scored the eventual game-winner with 10 minutes remaining and despite Japan’s best efforts – including pulling Kawaguchi for the extra attacker in the final minute – Switzerland held on to clinch its first three points. They will aim to earn another three on Tuesday when they play Czechia.
