Canada beats USA to win Olympic women's hockey gold medal

Canada is back on top of the world in Olympic women’s hockey.

It was another epic gold medal game between Canada and the United States, with the Canadians coming out on top 3-2 in Beijing.

Canada jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period, with goals from Sarah Nurse and captain Marie-Philip Poulin, before taking a commanding 3-0 lead on Poulin’s second goal of the game midway through the second period.

Hilary Knight scored shorthanded late in the second period to give the Americans a chance. USA poured on the pressure in the third period, but were unable to score until Amanda Kessel’s power-play marker with 13 seconds left.

But it was too little, too late for USA.

Goaltending was a key advantage for Canada, as Ann-Renée Desbiens stopped 38 of 40 shots faced. Alex Cavallini made 18 saves on 21 shots for the Americans.

Nurse, who also picked up an assist on the winning goal, broke Hayley Wickenheiser’s all-time record for points in a single Olympic tournament, with 18. Poulin finished the tournament with 17 points.

SARAH NURSE 🚨 🇨🇦

After having a goal called off Canada wastes no time getting it back to take a 1-0 lead in the gold medal game

Watch on the CBC Sports app or @cbcgem pic.twitter.com/iZgiGhTdx6

— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) February 17, 2022

ANOTHER point for @nursey16 which means she takes the lead for most points in a single women's Olympics 🔥 🇨🇦

Watch on the CBC Sports app or @cbcgem pic.twitter.com/mz9HtMA1DS

— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) February 17, 2022

With two goals and an assist in the game, Poulin also made history. She’s the first hockey player, man or woman, to score in four Olympic gold-medal games (2010, 2014, 2018, 2022). She also scored the game-winning goal in the game, which remarkably is the third time she’s done that in an Olympic gold medal final.

It’s sweet redemption for Poulin and many of her teammates that had to settle for silver in 2018, losing the gold medal game in a shootout to USA.

“I’m so so proud of this group, from players to staff. We stayed united since 2018. It would have been easy to go our own way, but we put our head down, we went to work. It really showed today,” Poulin said in the CBC television interview after the game.

“We did it! We did it, and I’m very happy.”

In the seven women’s hockey tournaments at the Winter Olympics since the sport’s debut in 1998, Canada has won gold five times (2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2022), while USA has won gold twice (1998, 2018).

Canada, which went a perfect 7-0 and broke the all-time goal-scoring record, has to be in consideration as the best team of all time.

A GOLDEN celebration for Canada 🥇

They did it, after losing to the U.S. in 2018 the Canadian women made sure that gold was for them in 2022 🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/PawVxURpMn

— CBC Olympics (@CBCOlympics) February 17, 2022

“It’s insane, I can’t stop shaking, I just stopped crying,” 21-year-old Team Canada forward Sarah Fillier said in an interview with CBC, after winning her first Olympic gold medal.

Fillier was one of Canada’s top scorers in the tournament, putting up 11 points in seven games.

“This is just a dream come true and it’s been a really long four years. To do it with the girls on that team, there’s nothing more special than that… Hockey is Canada’s game.”

You might also like:
• Here's how much money a Canadian Olympic medal winner earns