Rivalry Rematch: Team Canada Edges Out Team USA In Overtime At PPG Paints Arena
By: Patrick Damp/KDKA-TV
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Just 23 days after meeting for the gold medal at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, Team USA and Team Canada met at PPG Paints Arena.
Team Canada was looking to prove it was no fluke they brought the gold back to North America and Team USA was out for a little bit of revenge for bringing home silver.
It was Team Canada picking up right where they left off in the Olympics, opening the scoring less than five minutes in. Off a bit of a broken play, Blayre Turnbull scooped up a loose puck after Rebecca Johnston engaged with a Team USA defender, putting the puck just under USA goalie Alex Cavallini, giving them the early 1-0 lead.
However, the Americans did not back down, getting several shots and chances but Ann-Renee Desbiens stood tall.
That was until there were just 33 seconds remaining in the opening frame when one of Team USA's most clutch players came through.
Hannah Brandt poked a puck free in the defensive zone, springing Hilary Knight on a breakaway, she snuck one by Desbiens to tie the game just before the first intermission.
Canada's strategy in the second period appeared to change as the Americans swapped out Cavallini for Maddie Rooney and that was to get in front of Rooney and make sure she was unable to see any shots.
That strategy would pay off a little over eight minutes into the middle frame when Jocelyn Larocque's shot found it's way past Rooney, retaking the lead for Canada at 2-1.
While it looked like it was deflected, the shot beat Rooney over the glove.
But as Team USA is known to do, they answered right back just minutes later when another one of the team's leaders would pull them even.
Hannah Brandt recorded her first goal of the game and second point of the day to knot the game at two.
A Hayley Scamurra pass attempt was blocked by Canada but found its way to Brandt's stick who put the puck five-hole on Canada's second-period goalie, Emerance Maschmeyer.
While the US got a late power-play opportunity that carried into the third, they were unable to break the deadlock.
As the third period continued, the US would be given a power-play opportunity once again but while they didn't score, it was Hayley Scamurra once again making a difference.
Breaking to the net with 12:14 remaining in regulation, a puck came to her stick, and she was able to beat Kristen Campbell high as the Canada defense had to respect high-flying defender Megan Keller, who provided a screen in front.
It gave the Americans a 3-2 lead but it lasted less than a minute when Canada's quick-strike offense was just that...quick-striking.
A mere 24 seconds after the US took the lead, Campbell made a save that jumpstarted the Canadians. Marie-Philip Poulin was able to get off a pass to Jamie Lee Rattray despite Poulin being heavily covered.
Rattray's wrister was powerful enough to beat the US's third-period goalie, Nicole Hensley to the blocker side.
From there, Campbell and Hensley shut the door the rest of the way as these two rivals once again found themselves locked in a battle, which slipped into overtime.
As she always does, it was Canada's Marie-Philip Poulin who scored to win for Canada.
Poulin was able to shake Kendall Coyne Schofield's coverage and as she went behind the net, her pass attempt to Melodie Daoust didn't make it, but it went in the net.
The pass attempt hit the leg of American defender Megan Keller and banked past Hensley to give Canada the 4-3 win in the Rivalry Rematch.
NOTES:
- Both teams welcomed legends behind the bench for this scrimmage. Team USA had Hockey Hall Of Famer and Assistant General Manager of the Vancouver Canucks, Cammi Granato while Team Canada had one of the most decorated players in Team Canada history, Cassie Campbell-Pascal. Granato was joined by Emily Matheson, a 2018 gold medalist with Team USA and part of the original iteration of the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association. Alongside Campbell-Pascal was a four-time gold medalist and PWHPA operations consultant Jayna Hefford.
- Canada and USA both had perfect penalty kills as neither team was able to convert on the power play.
- Marie-Philp Poulin's game-winning goal was yet another huge one. She has the record for "Golden Goals" for both men and women. In her Olympic career, the 30-year-old has scored the gold medal-winning goal for Team Canada in 2010, 2014, and again in 2022.
- During the second intermission, Team USA's Hilary Knight told the Penguins' reporter Michelle Crechiolo that Jake Guentzel provided the US women with "welcome to Pittsburgh" gift bags.
- Prior to the game, both teams came together to hold a girls' youth hockey clinic at PPG Paints Arena in the morning, giving lessons to local hockey players from the Pittsburgh area.
- The US and Canada have met for the gold medal at the Olympics six times, with Canada winning four of those and the US winning two. Most recently, the US women won in PyeongChang in 2018.
