By: Maeve Hushman, Staff Writer
Team Canada is once again a gold medalist in women’s hockey. They defeated team USA in the final 3-2 to win the gold. It was a truly epic game and the crown jewel of these Olympic games for hockey fans or Canadians and Americans alike. It is true best-on-best as the most talented players in the world faced off.
There were incredible stories going into this game. Sarah Nurse is the first Black woman to win an Olympic gold medal in ice hockey. Nurse also broke Dr. Hayley Wickenheiser’s record for most points in an Olympic tournament scoring 18 points in 7 games. Marie-Philip Poulin scored two goals in this game alone and now has three “golden goals.” She became the only Canadian to score in four different gold medal deciding games. On the American side, Alex Cavelleni was unsure she would even play after she suffered an MCL injury. Now she is an Olympic silver medalist.
Canada’s first three goals came from the record-breaking women with Nurse and Poulin both scoring in the first period. Then Poulin scored early in the second period. Team USA answered back with a short-handed goal by Hilary Knight in the second and a power play goal in the third from Amanda Kessel. It wasn’t enough, though; despite team USA’s ability to get 40 shots on goal and their execution on the special teams, they just weren’t able to beat Ann-Renée Desbiens or stop the Canadian offense.
This was likely one of the best Canadian women’s hockey teams in history. Their offense was unstoppable, their goaltending was a brick wall, and their special teams operated at peak performance. Even though team USA put up a fight, team Canada’s incredible talent was inevitable. However, no American should be discouraged by this loss. Team USA was still unbelievable, and they almost gave the best women’s team in recent Canadian history a run for their money. The game was close, and they held that tremendous offense to three goals and 21 shots. This was the clash of the titans, and even though the USA showed how talented of a team they are, they fell just short to the Canadians.
The Canadian women’s team are gold medalists once again. Team USA and team Finland walked away with silver and bronze, respectively. It is a victory for all three teams but, on a grander scale, a victory for women’s hockey, a sport that is ignored or maligned often. Women’s hockey is a fantastic sport that deserves attention beyond the Olympics and into the season.