Congratulations to the USA on their Gold medal victory, a 3-2 win over Team Canada, in the championship game of the WWHC.
As disappointed as Canada was, and, as ecstatic the U.S as the was, this final featured everything anyone would want in a women's game -- solid goaltending (Canada's Szabados stopped 30 shots while the U.S. Vetter stopped 16), opportunistic scoring (both Canada and the U.S. scored goals on longshots and from the point), odd-man rushes (with the U.S. taking several of them past out-of-position Canadian defenders), plenty of speed (an up-tempo on the part of the Americans as they used their speed to rush past and around Canadian forwards & defenders, while Canada was not quite up to par on all counts), some chippiness (on the part of the Canadians that landed them a penalty or two too many), boisterous fans and a sold-out audience at the Scotiabank Centre in Ottawa, and...our Prime Minister in attendance.
While the Canadians won it on a score of 5-4 in 2012, in the state of Vermont, over the U.S., this time around the roles were reversed. However, Canada remains the country with the most WWHC titles with 10, while the USA is second with 5.
The Canadians played well but the Americans played better. Using their large size on defence and using their speed to their advantage, the U.S. offset the Canadian forwards up front and tried to utilize whatever odd-man rushes presented them.
Both teams played entertaining hockey and both teams played great. But there has to be a winner and that winner in the end turned out to be the USA, led by the game-winning goal scored in the third period by Amanda Kessel, yes, Phil Kessel's sister, a standout player in the NCAA women's hockey division.
MVP and top forward award went to Canada's Marie-Philippe Poulin who also led the tournament in scoring.
The bronze medal game played earlier in the day featured Team Russia vs Team Finland, won by the Russians 2-0. This was Team Russia's second Bronze medal (their first being in 2001). Former NHLer Alexei Yashin is the Russian GM for the women 's team.
For more, go to:
http://www.tsn.ca/canadian_hockey/story/?id=420287