Women’s Hockey Worlds: USA rallies to defeat Canada in a ‘good test of character’

After giving up two goals in the first period, the U.S. rallied to defeat Canada 5-2 in the final Group A game of the 2022 IIHF Women’s World Championship.

“I think that was the best our team has responded in a really long time,” said Kelly Pannek, who scored the equalizer for the U.S. just over 11 minutes into the second period. “A lot of composure and a lot of trust on our bench.”

“I thought it was a good test of character for our team,” echoed Megan Keller. “We stuck together and a lot of players stepped up. I thought Nicole (Hensley), our goalie, was phenomenal. Just a great team win out there.”

After evening the score in the second period, the U.S. stepped it up even more early in the third. Lacey Eden and Kendall Coyne Schofield recorded back-to-back tallies (videos embedded below) before Hilary Knight finished the game off with an empty-net goal. Savannah Harmon, who assisted on both Eden and Coyne Schofield’s goals, was named U.S. player of the game.  The Americans outshot Canada 33-28 (with a 14-4 advantage in the third period).

Hensley recorded 26 saves for the U.S., while the Canadians were backstopped by Emerance Maschmeyer (28 saves).

“I think we all know we didn’t give our best game today,” said Sarah Fillier, who scored Canada’s first goal. “We’re just looking forward to playing in quarter(finals) and hopefully meeting the U.S. later down the road.”

With the win, the U.S. clinched the top spot in group A. The four quarterfinal round matchups are as follows:

The U.S. and Canada won’t meet again until the gold medal game — so long as each team win its respective quarterfinal and semifinal round games.

“The feeling of losing to your rivals, it’s now very fresh. And when you feel that, it’s very powerful,”