Canada wins Olympic hockey gold after defeating rival U.S.

Team Canada has won women’s hockey gold after defeating the U.S. at the 2022 Winter Olympics is Beijing, China.

The Canadian women’s hockey team defeated the defending Olympic champions 3-2 on Thursday.

Canada’s Sarah Nurse opened the scoring early in the first period before team captain Marie-Philip Poulin added a pair of goals. Hilary Knight scored early in the second period for the U.S.

The U.S. made it 3-2 after Amanda Kessel scored with 12.5 seconds left in the third period.

Canada’s Ann-Renee Desbiens stopped 38 shots on goal. Natalie Spooner appeared to have opened the scoring for Canada in the first period, but after a review the goal was called back due to the Canadians being offside. Less than a minute later, Nurse found the back of the net.

“It’s a good feeling. This group is very special,” Poulin told The Canadian Press after the win. “This group has been putting the work in since 2018. We’ve been having that motivation with that silver medal, but it’s teamwork, it’s one team from staff to player and it was huge today.”

With five goals and 13 assists, Nurse set a tournament points record previously held by Canada’s Hayley Wickenheiser in 2010. Brianne Jenner was named tournament MVP after tying a tournament high in goals with a team-leading nine.

“I didn’t realize how much time was there left until I saw 12 seconds on the clock,” Desbiens said. “You just try to make some save at a time.

“It didn’t matter how much time was left on the clock. I think my teammates did a good job just doing the same thing they did all game long.”

Thursday’s win over the U.S. gave Canada its fifth women’s hockey Olympic gold medal. Canada fell to the U.S. at the 2018 Winter Games 3-2 in South Korea. Canada has reached every final since women’s hockey made its Olympic debut in 1998 in Nagano, Japan.

Canada now has 19 medals at the Beijing Olympics, including four gold.