Canada claimed its first women’s world hockey championship in almost a decade Tuesday when Marie-Philip Poulin scored the overtime winner in a 3-2 victory over the United States.
The Canadians won gold nine years after their last time atop the podium in 2012, and after not reaching the final for the first time in the history of the tournament in 2019.
The U.S had won five world titles in a row and eight of the previous nine.
Poulin scored at 7:22 of 3-on-3 overtime. Brianne Jenner passed the puck up to the captain whose shot went off the crossbar and into the net.
WATCH | Marie-Philip Poulin seals gold medal victory for Canada with OT winner:
Poulin scores beautiful OT winner to clinch Canada gold at the worlds
7 hours ago
Marie-Philip Poulin scored a fantastic goal to give Canada the 3-2 win and their first gold medal at the worlds since 2012. 2:21
The goal was initially waived off by an on-ice official, but the Canadians were soon piling on top of each other in celebration.
“It’s been awhile since 2012. It’s been a long time coming,” Poulin said. “The team showed up tonight and I think we stayed resilient.”
Assistant captain Blayre Turnbull suffered a leg injury during the celebration pileup. She was carried off the ice before returning to celebrate from a stretcher with her teammates during the Canadian anthem.
Jenner had a goal and two assists and Jamie Lee Rattray also scored for Canada. Jocelyne Larocque had two assists. Ann-Renee Desbiens made 23 saves in the win.
Alex Carpenter scored twice for the U.S. Nicole Hensley turned away 29 shots in the loss.
‘The greatest rivalry in sports’
Canada and the U.S. required extra time to decide the world champion for the fifth time in their last seven clashes for the gold medal.
“That’s why it’s the greatest rivalry in sports,” U.S. forward Amanda Kessel said.
The U.S. led 2-0 after the opening period on Carpenter’s two goals, but the hosts drew even in the second.
Rattray tipped a Larocque shot from the point between Hensley’s pads for an equalizer at 6:42 of the second period.
Jenner halved the deficit with a power-play goal 4:13. In a goal-mouth scramble, the assistant captain went backhand to forehand to beat Hensley’s glove.
Carpenter spun and tucked the puck under Desbiens for a power-play goal at 12:35 of the first period. Desbiens had gloved Lee Stecklein’s shot from the point, but dropped the puck in front of her.
Carpenter shovelled her own rebound between Desbiens’ pads at 9:55.
Mélodie Daoust, who was named tournament MVP, led Canada and the tournament in scoring with six goals and six assists in seven games ahead of teammate Jenner with three goals and seven assists in six games.
Poulin reinforced her reputation as a golden goaler. She scored twice for Canada in a 2-0 win over the Americans to win Olympic gold in 2010.
The 30-year-old from Beauceville, Que., scored a late equalizer and the overtime winner against the U.S. four years later for another Olympic gold.
Poulin didn’t play in a 5-1 win over the U.S. in the preliminary round in Calgary. She’d taken a hard shot in the upper chest earlier in the tournament.
Her laser over Hensley’s shoulder Tuesday pulled Canada to the top of the women’s hockey podium again.
“If you see 29 open, you’ve got to put it on her stick and she does the rest,” Jenner said.
Canada went unbeaten through the championship in Calgary.
Troy Ryan won his first tournament as Canada’s head coach. He faces the prospect of Turnbull sidelined as Canada prepares for February’s Winter Olympics in Beijing.
“It looked bad. I was right beside it as she was coming off the ice. Obviously a terrible situation,” Ryan said.
The Canadians didn’t reach the final for the first time in the history of the women’s championship in 2019, when they lost 4-2 to host Finland in a semifinal in Espoo.
Long-awaited gold medal opportunity
The COVID-19 pandemic stifling international women’s hockey meant a long wait for another chance at gold.
The 2020 women’s championship in Halifax and Truro, N.S., was cancelled. Those communities were awarded the tournament again in 2021.
After a postponement from April to May, Nova Scotia’s premier at the time pulled the plug on the tournament the day teams were departing for the province.
The men’s under-18 championship in Texas in April, and the men’s world championship in Latvia in May were completed.
Hockey Canada relocated and rescheduled the women’s championship to Calgary in August less than six months out from February’s Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Hockey Canada didn’t sell tickets in Calgary. Only family members were allowed into a dedicated section of WinSport’s Markin MacPhail Centre. Players from other countries watched Tuesday’s final from the other side of the arena.
Players, team personnel and officials were tested for COVID-19 before arrival, during a five-day quarantine before the tournament and during the event.
They were confined to the tournament hotel and the arena, and travelled by bus between the two sites.
There were no positive tests for the coronavirus in over 3,000 conducted, and all teams will be able to travel Wednesday, the International Ice Hockey Federation said Tuesday.
Canada, the U.S., Finland, Switzerland, Russia, Japan and host China have berths in the 10-country Olympic women’s hockey field. The remaining three spots will be filled via Olympic qualifying tournaments in November.
The IIHF is expected to approve in September the addition of the women’s championship to Olympic years starting in 2022 in August. A host city has yet to be named.
The women’s tournament would revert back to spring in non-Olympic years.
The IIHF is also expected to expand women’s rosters to 25, including three goaltenders, to match the men’s rosters at future world championships.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — DeMar DeRozan scored 27 points in a record-setting performance and the Sacramento Kings beat the Toronto Raptors 122-107 on Wednesday night.
Domantas Sabonis added 17 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds for his third triple-double of the season for Sacramento. He shot 6 for 6 from the field and 5 for 5 at the free-throw line.
Keegan Murray chipped in with 22 points and 12 rebounds, and De’Aaron Fox scored 21.
The 35-year-old DeRozan has scored at least 20 points in each of his first eight games with the Kings, breaking a franchise mark established by Chris Webber when he reached 20 in his first seven games with Sacramento in 1999.
DeRozan spent the past three seasons with the Chicago Bulls. The six-time All-Star also has played for Toronto and San Antonio during his 16-year NBA career.
RJ Barrett had 23 points to lead the Raptors. Davion Mitchell scored 20 in his first game in Sacramento since being traded to Toronto last summer.
Takeaways
Raptors: Toronto led for most of the first three quarters before wilting in the fourth. The Raptors were outscored 33-14 in the final period.
Kings: Fox played strong defense but struggled again shooting from the floor as he is dealing with a finger injury. Fox went 5 for 17 and just 2 of 8 on 3-pointers. He is 5 for 25 from beyond the arc in his last three games.
Key moment
The Kings trailed 95-89 early in the fourth before going on a 9-0 run that gave them the lead for good. DeRozan started the spurt with a jumper, and Malik Monk scored the final seven points.
Key stat
Sabonis had the eighth game in the NBA since at least 1982-83 with a triple-double while missing no shots from the field or foul line. The previous player to do it was Josh Giddey for Oklahoma City against Portland on Jan. 11.
Up next
Raptors: At the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday night, the third stop on a five-game trip.
VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Whitecaps are one win away from moving on to the next round of the Major League Soccer playoffs.
To get there, however, the Whitecaps will need to pull off the improbable by defeating the powerhouse Los Angeles FC for a second straight game.
Vancouver blanked the visitors 3-0 on Sunday to level their best-of-three first-round playoff series at a game apiece. As the matchup shifts back to California for a decisive Game 3 on Friday, the Whitecaps are looking for a repeat performance, said striker Brian White.
“We take the good and the bad from last game, learn from what we could have done better and go to LAFC with confidence and, obviously, with a whole lot of respect,” he said.
“We know that we can go there and give them a very good fight and hopefully come away with a win.”
The winner of Friday’s game will face the No. 4-seed Seattle Sounders in a one-game Western Conference semifinal on Nov. 23 or 24.
The ‘Caps finished the regular season eighth in the west with a 13-13-8 record and have since surprised many with their post-season play.
First, Vancouver trounced its regional rivals, the Portland Timbers, 5-0 in a wild-card game. Then, the squad dropped a tightly contested 2-1 decision to the top-seeded L.A. before posting a decisive home victory on Sunday.
Vancouver has scored seven goals this post-season, second only to the L.A. Galaxy (nine). Vancouver also leads the league in expected goals (6.84) through the playoffs.
No one outside of the club expected the Whitecaps to win when the Vancouver-L. A. series began, said defender Ranko Veselinovic.
“We’ve shown to ourselves that we can compete with them,” he said.
Now in his fifth season with the ‘Caps, Veselinovic said Friday’s game will be the biggest he’s played for the team.
“We haven’t had much success in the playoffs so, definitely, this is the one that can put our season on another level,” he said.
This is the second year in a row the Whitecaps have faced LAFC in the first round of the playoffs and last year, Vancouver was ousted in two straight games.
The team isn’t thinking about revenge as it prepares for Game 3, White said.
“More importantly than (beating LAFC), we want to get to the next round,” he said. “LAFC’s a very good team. We’ve come up against them a number of times in different competitions and they always seem to get the better of us. So it’d be huge for us to get the better of them this time.”
Earning a win last weekend required slowing L.A.’s transition game and limiting offensive opportunities for the team’s big stars, including Denis Bouanga.
Those factors will be important again on Friday, said Whitecaps head coach Vanni Sartini, who warned that his team could face a different style of game.
“I think the most important thing is going to be to match their intensity at the beginning of the game,” he said. “Because I think they’re going to come at us a million miles per hour.”
The ‘Caps will once again look to captain Ryan Gauld for some offensive firepower. The Scottish attacking midfielder leads MLS in playoff goals with five and has scored in all three of Vancouver’s post-season appearances this year.
Gearing up for another do-or-die matchup is exciting, Gauld said.
“Knowing it’s a winner-takes-all kind of game, being in that kind of environment is nice,” he said. “It’s when you see the best in players.”
LAFC faces the bulk of the pressure heading into the matchup, Sartini said, given the club’s appearances in the last two MLS Cup finals and its 2022 championship title.
“They’re supposed to win and we are not,” the coach said. “But it’s beautiful to have a little bit of pressure on us, too.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.
Each PWHL team operated under its city name, with players wearing jerseys featuring the league’s logo in its inaugural season before names and logos were announced last month.
The Toronto Sceptres, Montreal Victoire, Ottawa Charge, Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost and New York Sirens will start the PWHL’s second season on Nov. 30 with jerseys designed to reflect each team’s identity and to be sold to the public as replicas.
Led by PWHL vice-president of brand and marketing Kanan Bhatt-Shah, the league consulted Creative Agency Flower Shop to design the jerseys manufactured by Bauer, the PWHL said Thursday in a statement.
“Players and fans alike have been waiting for this moment and we couldn’t be happier with the six unique looks each team will don moving forward,” said PWHL senior vice president of business operations Amy Scheer.
“These jerseys mark the latest evolution in our league’s history, and we can’t wait to see them showcased both on the ice and in the stands.”
Training camps open Tuesday with teams allowed to carry 32 players.
Each team’s 23-player roster, plus three reserves, will be announced Nov. 27.
Each team will play 30 regular-season games, which is six more than the first season.
Minnesota won the first Walter Cup on May 29 by beating Boston three games to two in the championship series.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
