Canada Wins Gold in Women's Hockey

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Members of the Canadian team celebrate their win.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Canada's women upheld their half of the bargain in letting the world know who owns hockey Thursday, blanking archrival the United States 2-0 in their Olympic gold-medal game.

The game was the reverse of the U.S.-Canada men's game Sunday. This time Team USA carried the play only to be stymied by the Canadian goaltender. All the scoring took place in the first period, when Canada got two opportunistic goals from Marie-Philip Poulin. Canada rode goalie Shannon Szabados the rest of the way.

"My teammates were unbelievable today," Ms. Szabados said. "This is an incredible moment."

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Associated Press

Marie-Philip Poulin, center, celebrates her goal against the U.S.

The game was a tribute to what women's hockey can be when played by two equal opponents. This Olympic tournament showed once more how the U.S. and Canada are eons ahead of other countries in women's hockey, a fact reflected in numerous blowouts and questions about whether there were enough players around the world to merit inclusion in the Olympics.

But when played by two teams as equally skilled as the Americans and Canadians, the women's game was perfectly fast-paced and thrilling. Passes zipped tape to tape, slapshots boomed and both goalies acrobatically knocked away pucks or snagged them with darting gloves.

"For sure it's good hockey," Canadian men's hockey defenseman Brent Seabrook said during the first-period intermission. "It's really exciting."

Fans also passionately supported the game, holding banners that read "She Shoots, She Scores" and "I Believe in Women's Hockey."

The game started slowly but the U.S. began a relentless forecheck, which pinned the Canadian defense in their zone much of the night. Forwards Hilary Knight and Caitlin Cahow stormed the net several times, but Ms. Szabados kept turning them away, often relying on her fast glove hand to snag pucks out of the air.

The U.S. had an even better chance to get into the game in the second period when Canada was called for delay of game by shooting the puck over the glass. A few seconds later, it was called again for the same penalty – a highly unusual sequence of events that gave the U.S. a five-on-three power play for almost two minutes. But between the Canadians' deft shot-blocking and too much U.S. passing, the danger passed.

By the third, it was clear Canada was planning to hang on and the game became a series of efforts by the U.S. team to penetrate the Canadian zone, with Canada countering when the U.S. defense pinched too deep.

The medals ceremony was touching, with the bronze-medal Finnish team clearly thrilled to have won a medal. The U.S. women, meanwhile, were despondent, many in tears. When U.S. fans began chanting "U.S.A., U.S.A.," the Canadian-dominated arena took up the chant as well.

But the roof went off when gold was handed out. Looking down from the skyboxes was the Canadian men's team. They must get through the semifinals Friday to reach their gold-medal game to hold up their end of the national bargain.

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