Medals update: Canada unseat Team USA for fifth women’s ice hockey gold

Canada regained their crown against old foe Team USA at the Wukesong Sports Centre in the final game of the women’s ice hockey tournament of these Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022.

Unlike the 2018 final in PyeongChang – which required overtime and a shootout – tonight’s affair ended in three periods of regular time and 3-2 in favour of Team Canada.

It was the seventh time the two North American powers have met in an Olympic gold medal-game (all but one since the women’s competition debuted in Nagano in 1998). And the Canadians were dominant on the night as they sealed their fifth women’s ice hockey gold and unseated the U.S. in the latest chapter of this huge hockey rivalry.

The Canadians opened the scoring in the eighth minute of the first period when Sarah Nurse scored her fifth goal of these Olympics by deflecting a low crossing pass from Claire Thompson to beat USA goalie Alex Cavallini (1-0). The first goal of the game came just 35 seconds after the Canadians had a goal chalked off for offside.

Canada, who’d already beat their American neighbours 4-2 in the group phase, added another goal with five minutes to go in the first period. The U.S. were unable to clear the zone and 30-year-old Marie-Philip Poulin – all-time leading scorer at Boston University and a four-time Olympian – stripped the puck and fired her shot to the right of a screened Cavallini (2-0).

The Americans picked up their tempo in the second period, but the Canadians – ruthless on the night – refused to take their foot off the accelerator. Poulin grabbed her second goal of the night in the 10th minute after a speedy transition play and an assist from Nurse, which saw her break the record for most points (18) and most assists (13) in a single Olympic