The US women yesterday captured Olympic ice hockey gold for the first time in 20 years after a dramatic 3-2 shoot-out triumph over four-time defending champions Canada.
Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson scored the deciding shoot-out goal after five shots for each team ended deadlocked 2-2.
She faked a backhand and defeated Canada goaltender Shannon Szabados with a forehand on a move dubbed “Ooops, I did it again.”
Photo: AFP
“I knew you have to sell the shot and get her to go down,” Lamoureux-Davidson said. “I came in slow. I knew it was the move I was going to make.”
“It was a dream come true. It was special,” she added.
Then 20-year-old US goalie Maddie Rooney — who was seven-months-old when the US women last captured Olympic hockey gold in 1998 at the Nagano Winter Olympics — denied Meghan Agosta’s attempted equalizer between Rooney’s legs to give the US their long-sought gold.
“It’s an amazing feeling,” Rooney said. “When she cut across, a lot of people go five-hole. I kind of anticipated it.”
The US raced off the bench in jubilation, Rooney at the bottom of a celebratory pile as hugs and flag-waving began.
“Everything went into a blur,” Rooney said. “To see my teammates running at me was an unbelievable feeling.”
The US snapped archrivals Canada’s 24-match Olympic women’s hockey victory streak, a painful loss that left the silver medalists in tears.
It was a medal so painful for Jocelyne Larocque that she removed it as soon as it was placed around her neck.
“It just hurt,” Larocque said. “We worked so hard. We wanted gold. We didn’t get it. Guess it’s motivation.”
“This medal really hurts. We’re going to have to move forward now. It’s painful,” Canada’s Melodie Daoust said.
“I’m really sad for our team,” she added.
US women have struggled to seize gold on the game’s biggest stage, despite winning seven of the past world championship finals over Canada.
“This medal speaks loudly in our hearts and souls,” Lamoureux-Davidson said.
American Hilary Knight opened the scoring, but Haley Irwin and Marie-Philip Poulin answered for Canada, only for Lamoureux-Davidson’s twin sister, Monique Lamoureux-Morando, to score a third-period equalizer to set the stage for overtime.
Megan Keller was whistled for an illegal hit on Canada’s Poulin with 95 seconds to play in the 20-minute overtime period, but Canada could not net a winner on the power play as the game went to a shoot-out.
The tension mounted as Gigi Marvin scored for the US, only to have Canada’s Agosta answer on the next shot. Melodie Daoust put Canada ahead in the fourth round of shots, but Amanda Kessel pulled the US level, setting the stage for the dramatic finish.
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