Friday, February 26, 2010
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Canada’s game. Canada’s ice. Canada’s gold. Again.
Marie-Philip Poulin scored two goals, Shannon Szabados made 28 saves, and Canada rolled through its American rivals, 2-0, to win the gold medal in women’s hockey for the third straight Olympics on Thursday night in front of a raucous Vancouver crowd ringing cowbells and frantically waving thousands of maple leaf flags.
After Poulin’s two first-period scores, the Canadians dominated every aspect of the biggest game in this young sport, earning their 15th straight Olympic victory.
“I looked up in the stands and saw a sign that said, ‘Proud to be Canadian,’ and that’s what I am today,” Szabados said. “My teammates were unbelievable today. We played a great game, and this is an incredible moment.”
Playing with a consistency and passion its men’s team hopes to emulate this weekend, Canada remained unbeaten at the Olympics since 1998, when the Americans won the first women’s gold.
The Canadians kept nearly the entire game in the Americans’ end — outpassing, outshooting and simply outworking the only team in women’s hockey with a chance of standing up to them.
While some debate the viability of an Olympic sport with two such dominant powers on top, the Canadians celebrated — and several even went back on the ice an hour after their win, carrying champagne bottles and posing for pictures in the near-empty arena.
“We commit. We work hard,” said Canadian captain Hayley Wickenheiser, a four-time Olympian with three gold medals. “It’s up to the rest of the world to catch up. This is not as easy as it looks, trust me.”
Earlier, Finland won the bronze medal, beating Sweden 3-2 in overtime.
Canada got two first-period goals from Poulin, the super-speedy 18-year-old forward from Quebec who claims she felt no Olympic pressure. Their smooth, graceful goalie did the rest, with Szabados capping her first Olympics with flawless netminding in a win that sometimes seemed just as one-sided as Canada’s 18-0 victory over Slovakia to open the Olympics 12 days ago.
Jessie Vetter made 27 saves for the Americans, whose offense evaporated in front of Szabados.