Underdog Canadian women's hockey team scrapped until the end, but 'fell just inches short'

The Canadians came into the gold-medal game as underdogs.

On one side, there was a powerhouse American team that had outscored its opponents, 31-1, with plenty of contributions from a group of talented young players who are already stars in this game.

That dominance included a decisive 5-0 victory against the Canadians in the preliminary round that was never particularly close.

On the other side, there was a veteran Canadian team that had lost seven in a row to the Americans, a number they heard repeated often throughout this tournament.

"The whole year, people had doubt," Canadian captain Marie-Philip Poulin said. "People wondered. People said we’re too old."

But in a one-game showdown for Olympic gold, the Canadians didn't play like underdogs.

They pushed, fought and shot-blocked their way to a 1-0 lead that held until the final minutes of the third period, when American captain Hilary Knight, playing in the last Olympic game of her career, tied things.

They kept pushing in the extra frame, before a goal from U.S. defender Megan Keller scored to end it.

American Megan Keller's golden goal leaves Canada with the silver medal

"It wasn't about anything other than doing whatever it takes," Canadian forward Laura Stacey said. "It hurt. It wasn’t pretty. We knew it wasn’t going to be. Unfortunately, we fell just inches short."

The Canadians had plenty of dangerous chances through run-and-gun, three-on-three overtime. None of them went in.

"We wanted to play relentless, in their face hockey and that’s what we did," Poulin said after the game, her face streaked with tears underneath a red ball cap with a Canadian flag. "We came up short but I’m truly, truly proud of this group."

Throughout the tournament, Poulin and several