The Chronicle Herald (Provincial)
Canada ends gold drought
Banged-up captain Poulin plays hero
CALGARY — And snap, just like that, Canada’s gold-medal drought has ended.
So fitting, perhaps, that it was the captain — Marie-philip Poulin — battered and bruised during the tournament, who did the honours with a startling snapshot of her own.
“There’s no better feeling, that’s for sure,” smiled Poulin. “It’s hard to put it into words to be honest. The team showed up tonight. We stayed resilient, we stuck to our game ... it was amazing.
“It’s been a long time coming.”
Poulin scored at 7:22 of three-on-three overtime, on a play that was being reviewed as play continued, to give Canada a 3-2 victory over Team USA in the final of the 2021 IIHF women’s world hockey championship — Canada’s first title since 2012.
The puck rang off the post and into the net, thus the confusion.
“It was pretty exciting to be honest,” said Poulin. “I knew it was in but until the buzzer happened ... in the middle of the play ... we didn’t know how to react.”
“I didn’t know it went it,” admitted Brianne Jenner, who passed the puck to Poulin. “I was shocked when the bench emptied. If you see No. 29 open, you just have to put it on her stick and she does the rest. It was a beautiful shot.”
The bronze medal was awarded to Finland thanks to its 3-1 triumph over Switzerland.
Canada has now won 11 world titles to the U.S.’ nine. The Americans had taken the previous five.
Even the goal celebration wasn’t without its drama. Canadian forward Blayre Turnbull was hurt in the pileup and had to be wheeled out for the national anthem and medal ceremony, her leg propped up.
Many will view the game as a dress rehearsal for the 2022 Winter Olympics, scheduled for Beijing in February. But for the two teams on the Winsport ice on Tuesday evening, that wasn’t even a consideration.
“It’s no surprise to me,” said an emotional U.S. forward Amanda Kessel. “Every time we play them, it’s going to come down to a goal, to a shootout. That’s why it’s the greatest rivalry in sports.”
The question everyone had prior to the game was: How different would the U.S. look from its round-robin drubbing by Canada, a 5-1 decision? The answer was quickly answered. Night and day.
Defensive play was the focal point early on in the game. Neither team was allowed to sustain pressure in the opposition zone, the shots few and far between as were scoring opportunities. The U.S. attempted to establish a net presence and eventually it paid off.
While Canada had a slight advantage in shots midway through the first period, it was the Americans who struck first. Alex Carpenter parked herself in front of Ann-renee Desbiens in the Canada goals and got her stick on a couple of shots for a 2-0 U.S. lead.
A stern talking-to was probably in order between periods ... or maybe not.
“We were actually happy with our start,” countered Jenner. “Obviously, you don’t want to be down 2-0 but we were playing our way. Just the calm from the veterans, from the rookies ... from that point we all believed we can do this.”
Canada made good on a power play at 4:13 of the second, Jenner taking a page out of Carpenter’s playbook and scoring on Nicole Hensley’s doorstep. Then two minutes later, Jamie Lee Rattray deflected a hard shot by Jocelyne Larocque into the net for the deadlock.
“I don’t think we were surprised by Canada’s push-back,” noted U.S. head coach Joel Johnson. “One of the keys was just to enjoy the opportunity. It was a good game, we came up short ... it’s a hard one to talk about right after. But I’m excited and proud of our group.”