Prior to Tuesday, Canada’s women’s hockey team had lost just four Olympic games in its entire history — and it had never been shut out.
“It’s always great when you get a win like that,” American forward Alex Carpenter said in an interview on the USA Network broadcast after the game. “We put in a solid 60 minutes there and, you know, we’re going to hopefully continue that in the next couple games.”
Canadian goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens was near perfect on Monday against Czechia, with her only goal against coming in the waning minutes of the third period, but her momentum didn’t carry over from game to game. Less than four minutes into Tuesday’s contest, she allowed a particularly soft goal.
It never improved for her, and she was eventually pulled.
American defender Caroline Harvey led the way offensively for her team, tallying the game-winning goal and a total of three points. Forward Abbey Murphy had three assists.
Hilary Knight, who hails from Sun Valley, Idaho, and trains in Utah during the summers, registered an assist on her team’s first goal, tying Jenny Potter for the most Olympic points in Team USA women’s hockey history. Earlier in the tournament, she tied Natalie Darwitz and Kathryn King for most goals in program history.
Canada missed its captain, Marie-Philip Poulin, who was injured in Monday’s win over Czechia. The 34-year-old owns the nickname “Captain Clutch” for scoring the gold-medal-winning goal in three separate Olympic tournaments. Her team could have used a few clutch goals on Tuesday, and they’re hopeful she’ll return at some point before the Games conclude.
Team USA’s win clinches first place for them in the group stage of the tournament. Canada will clinch second in the group stage if Finland loses to Switzerland in the game that’s ongoing at the time of writing, or if they get any points against Finland on Thursday.
Every gold medal in women’s Olympic hockey history has gone to either Canada or the U.S. The teams may very well meet again in the gold-medal game, as they have in all but one year of the event’s Olympic existence.
