The thriller goes to a shootout; Canada wins

Jamie Lee Rattray scored in possibly the craziest finish of the 9th shootout to give Canada a 4-3 win over the USA before a raucous crowd of 4,322 at the CAA Center.

Both teams scored in the first round of shots, and then 15 skaters failed to switch until Rattray made a nice drop that came off the wing.

The win gives Canada the top spot in Pool A with a 3-1-0-0 record, and they will face the third-placed Pool B seed in one of the quarterfinals on Thursday. The Americans, 3-0-1-0, finish second and play B2, also on Thursday.

Marie-Philip Poulin’s goal on a two-skater advantage early in the second period broke a 1-1 tie and appeared to be the winning goal for Canada, and Laura Stacey’s empty net goal at 17:33 seemed certain to seal the deal.

But then all hell broke loose.

U.S. captain Hilary Knight scored with 39 seconds left and all the clocks blacked out. After a long delay and a Canadian challenge, the goal was counted, play resumed, and the U.S. drove back into Canada’s territory to tie the game with 3.4 seconds left in regulation when Amanda Kessel inbounded the puck.

In overtime, Canada had a power play and couldn’t convert, and soon after, Ann-Renee Desbiens rocked Hilary Knight with a game-saving glove grab.

“A hockey game is never over until it’s over,” Desbiens philosophized, “and we saw that today. We’re really proud of how we responded in overtime. We kept going and still found a way to win. We’re very resilient. and always finish a way to win. This the evening was a new habit!”

“This game was a lot of fun,” said Knight, who went 0-3 in the shootout. “It didn’t go our way at the end, but what a game for the fans, for us, for such a young team. Positives all around. I think there are really positive takeaways. I think the things that bit us, we’re cleaning up. It’s really encouraging the way our group fought. I don’t think this group has had a lot of that for a long time.”

This was the 33rd time the teams have played in the Women’s World Cup. Canada now has a 17-16 advantage and the goal difference is 95-91. It’s so close.

However, tonight was only the third time in these 33 games that the result was decided by a penalty shootout. The United States won its first ever gold in the shot put in 2005, and Canada won in 2013.

The Canadians had the first chance early on when they went on the power play, but despite good pressure, the US PK bent but didn’t break. In fact, the visitors opened the scoring with their own 5-4 win. Hannah Bilka controlled the puck and shot over the shoulder of Desbiens, who is celebrating her 29th birthday today.

The USA had a great opportunity to double their lead soon after when Hayley Scamurra got the puck from the same spot as Bilka. He also aimed over the bar, but this time Desbiens was there to make the save.

“I think what we appreciate about him is just his calm presence,” Hart said. “Especially as a D player, you know that no matter what happens, he’s going to be calm and he’s going to play the game. I think it’s really easy to play in front of goalies like that.”

Canada tied the game at 12:38 after a nice rush by Sarah Nurse. Frankel made the first play and bombed Nurse again, but Sarah Fillier hit the puck on the third attempt to tie the score. It was his team-best fourth goal and sixth point of the tournament.

“It was just a quick transition,” said Micah Zandee-Hart, who started the play. “Jamie threw the puck across and I kind of missed the serve and I saw I was being pressured but I had to get it in so I just threw my stick on it and Nurse and Filly did their thing and it was in the back of the net.”

The Americans got into penalty trouble last night against the Czech Republic, and they repeated their unruly ways in the second set tonight. They committed four fouls in a row, two on top of each other, to give Canada a 5-3 lead with 39 seconds left. It didn’t take long for them to connect. Erin Ambrose passed to Marie-Philip Poulin and captain Clutch ripped a shot past Frankel’s glove at 3:08.

But Canada settled for an extra skater and didn’t do much else with all their power play time, saved by defenseman Claire Thompson’s long shot. Canada later had to kill off their own penalty and did a masterful job. Although the Canadians led after two, the USA had to feel hopeful as they trailed by a goal but won 22-15 through 40 minutes.

Penalties were taken into account again in the third set. Canada experienced two quick layups, but midway through the second of this number, the U.S. got one too many skaters when goaltender Aerin Frankel cleared the puck into her bench on a lane change. Canada played great team defense and limited American shots as the clock wound down.

Laura Stacey added an empty netter 2:27 into the game and it looked to be the winner. It was not. Anything but.

“It was a bit of a strange end to the game,” Fillier added. “I think we got into every special situation we can have, but it’s still early in the tournament for us, so we’re still focusing on our structure. It’s about getting better.”