Canada finds a way to women’s hockey gold
HERNING — Canada had to find a different way to win a women’s world hockey title after its Olympic triumph earlier this year and world championship gold a year ago.
This current edition was a work in progress throughout the tournament in Denmark, but Canada played its best game of the tournament in Sunday’s 2-1 win over archrival U.S. in the final.
The Canadian women won their third major international title in the span of a year after beating the U.S. 3-2 for Olympic gold in February in Beijing, and 3-2 in overtime in the 2021 world championship final just over a year ago.
“It wasn’t smooth. It looked a lot different from our Olympic win and our last world championship win, but I think we’re really reassured when things aren’t as smooth we can find different ways to win,” Canadian forward Brianne Jenner said.
After a quiet tournament, Jenner scored two second-period goals within a minute of each other Sunday. Goaltender Ann-Renee Desbiens was the calm eye of the storm in the third as the U.S. pushed furiously for an equalizer. The Canadians were outshot 12-6 in the third period, but they blocked shots with abandon over the final two minutes when the U.S. pulled Nicole Hensley for an extra attacker.
Desbiens made 20 saves for the win, while Hensley stopped 17 shots. “I think coming into this tournament, we had the confidence that we were the best team in the world,” Canadian forward Sarah Nurse said.
Canada lost 5-2 in the preliminary round to a U.S. team that appeared ready to reclaim
women’s hockey supremacy.
Both Canada and the U.S. returned 18 players from their Olympic rosters.
The Americans seemed to absorb what lineup changes there were quicker than the Canadians, who were juggling forward line combinations throughout the tournament in an effort to find chemistry.
Canada’s execution in an 8-1 semifinal win over the Swiss indicated the defending champions were finding their form. But the U.S. went undefeated into the final with a plus-47 goal differential compared to Canada’s plus22, whereas Canada had boasted the highoctane offence in Beijing. In addition to moving the puck quicker and cleaner than it did in the loss to the U.S., Canada also defended more tenaciously in the box between and below the faceoff dots.
Canada’s power play went 0-for-2 in the first period before Jenner converted a third chance in the second. The U.S went 1-for-3 with a man advantage over the back half of the game. U.S. forward Abby Roque, who scored her team-leading fourth power-play goal of the tournament with less than a minute to play in the second, accused the Canadians of diving. “I think they have lots of players who dive around,” Roque said. “It’s not the way to play hockey.”
Canada and the U.S. have met in the final of all but one world championship since the inaugural tournament in Ottawa in 1990.
The U.S. won five straight world titles, as well as Olympic gold in 2018, before Canada’s women heaved hard over the last year on the rope in the tug of war that’s been the story of their rivalry.