Canada reclaimed its place atop when Marie-Philip Poulin scored twice in the Women’s Hockey World with a 3-2 win over United States at the Beijing Olympics.
On Thursday, Poulin defeated the champion of United States at the Beijing Games.
After winning gold in her first two Olympics, Poulin learned that to appreciate how significant capturing her third was, as she continued losing it for four years to the Americans at the Pyeongchang Games.
She said that she just got shivers.
She added that 2018 was very hard, and she thinks that when she took some time to reflect on what she needs to do better as a team and personally, she did that and is very happy that they are resilient and able to put that back in the past and win that gold today.
For the first time, since 2012, Canada can now boast holding both the Olympic and world championship titles at the same time. The win at Beijing comes nearly six months after Poulin’s overtime goal which sealed Canada’s 3-2 victory over the U.S. at worlds, and had put an end to the Americans’ run of winning five consecutive tournament titles.
The Americans’ only consistent threat in the tournament, Hilary Knight, scored her team-leading sixth goal on a shorthanded rush to cut the loss to 3-1.
With 13 seconds remaining, Amanda Kessel scored during a mad scramble in front for a power-play goal and with the U.S. net empty for an extra attacker.
At the start, Alex Cavallini stopped 18 shots in her fourth tournament.
The Americans, with two Olympic golds, settled for their fourth silver medal with all losses coming against Canada.
Poulin, On Thursday, assembled the Canadians to a 2-0 in the first period, and then made it 3-0 into the second period.
Poulin said of her knack for clutch goals that she does not know what’s happening and thinks that there is some angel or something.
Poulin has had her anxious moments before she could celebrate as she was in the penalty box for tripping when Kessel scored in the closing seconds.
To be a great fit for Poulin was standing next to Desbiens in the medal line and having the honor of draping the gold around the goalie’s neck.
Poulin said for Desbiens, who quit hockey after 2018 before being coaxed into re-joining the team that she showed up in those big moments. She added that she kept us in the game and to be honest, giving the medal to her was very special.
As Knight’s goal provided the Americans life, they were not able to cash in on their chances in the third period.
Alex Carpenter had two chances five minutes in, only so that she had one-timer from the left circle to hit the crossbar and then get stopped by Desbiens on a partial breakaway.
Kessel mourned about how her goal came far too late.
She said that she is holding herself to a high standard and she personally thinks that her line wants to score more goals. They also knew that they were counted on to probably score earlier and get one or two for their team.
The U.S. did not either had enough defence to contain the Canadians’ aggressive fore-checking attack, or the offense to match them, especially without top center Brianna Decker.
On a tournament- leading 374 shots, the Americans finished seventh out of 10 teams in scoring efficiency with just 30 goals.
At Beijing, the Canadians surpassed the field by outscoring opponents with a combined margin of 57-10 which included a 4-2 win over the U.S. in group play, last week.
