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Revenge is a dish best served cold, and Canada’s women’s hockey team dished it out at the Beijing Winter Olympics.
Canada beat the United States 3-2 in Thursday’s gold-medal game, avenging a 3-2 shootout loss to the Americans in the 2018 Olympic final in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Captain Marie-Philip Poulin scored twice for the Canadians, giving her goals in four straight Olympic finals.
It was Canada’s fifth victory in seven gold-medal games in Olympic women’s hockey history. The North American rivals were playing for the sixth time with gold on the line.
The U.S. won the first gold medal at the 1998 Games in Nagano, Japan, but Canada won gold in each of the 2002, ’06, ’10 and ’14 Olympics.
The Americans were the defending champions, however, after winning in Pyeongchang in 2018.
Canada earned its revenge Thursday, completing an undefeated tournament.
The Canadians went 4-0 in the round-robin, outscoring their opponents 33-5. That included a 4-2 victory over the U.S.
Canada was equally impressive in its first two playoff games, posting a 21-3 goal differential to advance to the final.
The Canadians thought they had opened the scoring at 7:15 of the first period Thursday, when Natalie Spooner fired home a loose puck.
But the Americans challenged the play for a missed offside call, and video replay determined the play was indeed offside at the U.S. blue line.
Just 35 seconds later, Sarah Nurse redirected a pass from Claire Thompson off the right goalpost and in to give Canada the 1-0 lead.
Poulin doubled the Canadian advantage at 15:02 of the first when she stole the puck just inside the blue line and put a wrist shot past a screened Alex Cavallini.
Nurse drew an assist on the goal, giving her a tournament-record 18 points.
Poulin made it 3-0 at 9:08 of the second period, banking a sharp-angle shot off Cavallini and into the net.
Hilary Knight got the Americans on the board at 16:39 of the second with a shorthanded goal and the teams went to their dressing rooms with Canada leading 3-1.
Alex Carpenter had a chance to cut into the lead early in the third, but her shot hit the right post behind Ann-Renee Desbiens.
The Canadians held their two-goal lead until 13 seconds remained in the game, when Amanda Kessel banged in a rebound on a power play.
But the Americans didn’t get a shot at a tying goal after that and the Canadians’ celebration was on.
Saskatoon’s Emily Clark didn’t have a point in Thursday’s game.
The gold was Canada’s fourth of the Beijing Olympics and 19th medal overall.