Canada has gained gold after a dominant girls’s ice hockey match on the 2022 Olympics in Beijing. The Canadians beat Team USA 3-2 to assert their fifth Olympic gold in girls’s hockey, closing out a historic match that noticed them enter the gold-medal match with an Olympic-record 54 targets. In the long run, it was their environment friendly offense that proved the distinction in Beijing. However, as is all the time the case on this matchup of rivals, the Individuals weren’t taking place with no struggle.
Having already defeated the US within the preliminary spherical, 4-2, Canada made positive to begin the scoring early within the gold medal match. After a purpose by Canada’s Natalie Spooner was referred to as again as offside, Sarah Nurse put her group within the lead for good by deflecting the puck into the again of the online simply 35 seconds later. Canada’s star captain Marie-Philip Poulin made it 2-0 with slightly below 5 minutes left within the first interval, scoring a purpose off a set play and giving the US a giant hill to climb as the sport wore on.
After Canada dominated the primary interval in possession and photographs, the second interval began extra evenly, with each groups sprinting up and down the rink as the sport opened up. As soon as once more, it was Poulin inflicting issues for the US, placing away her second purpose of the evening off a fast redirection within the tenth minute of the second interval. The purpose made historical past for Poulin, who reportedly grew to become the one hockey participant of any gender to score in four Olympic gold medal games. It additionally appeared to gentle a hearth below Workforce USA, and the Individuals answered again when four-time Olympian Hilary Knight scored her sixth purpose in Beijing.
By the third interval, it was clear that the US had grown into the sport. The Individuals lastly started to maintain some offensive stress and made positive Canadian goalkeeper Ann-Renée Desbiens stayed busy with waves of determined photographs. Within the last minutes, the US had a six-on-four benefit after pulling its goalie and Poulin leaving the ice on a penalty. A last flurry resulted in a purpose from Amanda Kessel to make it 3-2, however in the end, it was too little too late. Canada’s quick-striking offense proved an excessive amount of to beat, and the Individuals will go dwelling with a hard-earned silver and, undoubtedly, somewhat extra motivation for 2026. Canada has now gained 5 out of seven Olympic gold medals in girls’s hockey.
Canada’s victory additionally serves as the newest chapter within the storied women’s hockey rivalry between the 2 nations. Both the US or Canada has gained gold in each Olympics for the reason that sport was launched, with the US profitable that first gold in 1998, then watching in heartbreak as Canada claimed it in each Olympics thereafter. In 2018, the US gained it again in dramatic vogue, taking the sport into a shootout that ended with an enormous save by Maddie Rooney and a tear-filled dogpile on the ice. In 2022, it was the Canadians mobbing their goalie to have a good time a return to gold-medal standing.
Although the US and Canada are bitter rivals on the ice, additionally they collaborate to push the game ahead. The 2 groups joined forces within the My Why tour in late 2021, an annual sequence of video games between the North American powerhouses that additionally served as a tune-up for Beijing. After all, nothing places girls’s hockey within the forefront like a USA-Canada gold medal matchup, and in 2022, Canada is ending a dominant match with a well-deserved gold. Finland gained the bronze medal after defeating Switzerland 4-0.
Try highlights from the gold-medal match forward, and congrats to Workforce Canada!
