MILAN (AP) — Team USA won the gold medal in women’s hockey over Canada.
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U.S. women’s hockey captain Hilary Knight prolonged her final game at the Olympics by sending the gold-medal game against Canada on Thursday night to overtime tied 1-all.
Knight deflected Laila Edwards’ shot past Ann-Renee Desbiens with 2:04 left in regulation and the U.S. skating 6 on 5 with goaltender Aerin Frankel pulled for an extra attacker. The goal was her 15th at the Olympics, the most in team history.
Canada had led since Kristin O’Neill scored short-handed less than a minute into the second period, ending the U.S. shutout streak at 352 minutes, 17 seconds. Desbiens and Frankel went save for save in a back-and-forth game that was far more competitive than the rivals’ first meeting in the preliminary round, when the U.S. routed Canada 5-0.
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The Americans romped through the tournament, outscoring opponents 31-1.
The U.S. and Canada have met in all but one Olympic final — the 2006 Turin Games won by Canada — since women’s hockey made its debut at the 1998 Nagano Games.
Knight, 36, has already announced these will be her U.S.-record fifth and final Games, with a shot at adding a second gold medal to go with her three silvers. The game was played a day after Knight proposed to U.S. speedskater Brittany Bowe.
The defending Olympic champion Canadians have shown signs of age during a tournament in which they lost 5-0 to the Americans in the preliminary round, and eked into the final with a 2-1 win over Switzerland.
The loss to the Americans was the most lopsided and also the first time the Canadian women were shut out in Olympic play.
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Canada has captain Marie-Philip Poulin back in the lineup after missing two games — including the loss to the U.S. — with a right knee injury.
Switzerland beat Sweden in overtime in the the bronze medal game on another clutch goal by Alina Muller.
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