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27 February, 2010
Canadian Women Win Third Straight Ice Hockey Gold
The Canadian Women’s hockey team continued its dominance of the Olympic ice with a 2-0 win over their archrival US squad Thursday night in Vancouver.
Spurred by two first period goals from 18 year-old Marie-Philip Poulin, of Dawson College, Canada went on to win it’s third straight Olympic gold medal, following first place showings in both Salt Lake (2002) and Torino (2006).
Team USA is the only other Olympic squad to capture gold, finishing first in the inaugural Women’s ice hockey Olympic tournament at the 1998 games in Nagano, Japan. The US women finished second at the Salt Lake games and a very disappointing third in Torino four years ago.
Team Canada controlled play most of the night, even successfully holding off the US women during a 2-man advantage following consecutive delay-of-game minors at 2:35 and 2:58 of the 2nd period. The Canadians outscored their opponents 48-2 in the tournament, while the Americans finished scoring 40 goals and allowing only 4.
Canadian Meghan Agosta, a 23 year old law student at Mercyhurst College, led all scorers with 15 points (9 goals, 6 assists); right behind Agosta were teammates Caroline Ouellette and Canadian team captain Hayley Wickenheiser, who both recorded 11 pts totals (2G, 9A). Natalie Darwitz (4G, 7A) and Jenny Potter (6G, 5A) led the US women, also totaling 11 pts each. Wickenheiser is the all-time leading goal scorer in Women’s Olympic ice hockey history with 16.
Finland defeated Sweden in the perennial consolation game. This is the third bronze medal for the Finnish women.
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