Canada defeated Team USA 2-1 in Sunday's IIHF Women's World Championship Final in Denmark as hockey's greatest rivalry adds another exciting chapter.
Goalkeeper Ann-Renee Desbiens made 19 saves in the victory, including some in the final moments of the third period, while Brianne Jenner scored twice with 1:24 left in the second break.
“Sometimes you want to squeeze it in at the end and you depend on goalkeepers and blocked frames. We found a way to pull this off," Jenner said after the game.
Canada now has 12 women's world gold medals to the United States' nine. Both the United States and Canada have won gold at the women's world in every tournament since the event began in 1990. They have met in every match, most recently in 2019 when the US beat Finland for gold.
Team USA has won eight of its last 10 meetings with Canada at the World Championships and has won gold in five of its last six tournaments. Canada has now won gold at back-to-back IIHF World Championships, along with their gold medal against the Americans at the Beijing Olympics earlier this year.
"I think we came here as a group and found a unique way to win the championship," Canada's captain Marie-Philip Poulin said. “We are all aware that we didn't produce the numbers at the Olympics, but tonight we did by blocking shots, taking penalties and playing the power play. We had to find different methods to win and Ann-Renee made a few saves to get the win.”
Sunday's bounce had a scoreless first break and an unusually low number of frames between teams. But Team Canada came alive at the second break thanks to Beijing Olympics MVP Jenner. Jenner gave up a pass from Poulin and beat American goalkeeper Nicole Hensley at 9:30 into the second period for a 1-0 lead.
The Americans gave Canada even more of a boost when Hannah Brandt departed for a tackle just 26 seconds later. Jenner scored her second game in the power game that followed to give Canada a 2-0 lead. But the United States scored an important goal with 21 seconds left in the second half when Abby Roque fired a perfect cross from Amanda Kessel on the skill play.
The Americans pressed in the third period, including a frantic final two minutes in which Hensley was taken out. But Desbiens made some great saves while Poulin had a crucial shot late in the game to protect the victory.
The loss was Team USA's first at the 2022 World Cup, having gone undefeated in the preliminary round (with a 30-3 win over all four of their opponents and a 5-2 victory over Canada). ) and the playoffs.
"It's not the end result we deserved," US captain Kendall Coyne Schofield said. "There's a lot to be happy about, a lot to learn, a lot to build on to move forward as a group."
The 2023 Women's Championship will take place in Canada in a metropolis that has yet to get off the ground and will be absorbed by the United States, which will host it in 2024.
Associated Press contributed to this story.