- The United States women's hockey team beat Canada in the gold medal match on Wednesday night, taking home Olympic gold for the first time since 1998.
- The game came down to 20 minutes of scoreless overtime, and then finally to a shootout, where it took six attempts for the Americans to finally prevail.
- With the win, the United States women exorcise some demons of past matches against Canada, who had beaten the Americans in the previous two Winter Olympic gold medal games.
US captures elusive gold in women's hockey with thrilling shootout win
The United States finally won a gold medal in women's ice hockey.
The United States women's hockey team beat Canada in thrilling fashion on Wednesday night to take gold at the Winter Olympics for the first time since 1998.
It was a dramatic back-and-forth match filled with history, with the teams so closely knotted that even the shootout needed an extra round before the dust finally settled.
The Americans were first to get on the board. After two missed power-play opportunities earlier in the period, veteran Hilary Knight was able to sneak a quick deflection past Canadian goalie Shannon Szabados for a goal in the team's third 5-on-4 of the game. The goal came with with just seconds left in the first period, helping the United States take a 1-0 lead into the break.
.@TeamUSA STRIKES FIRST! A... @ NBC Olympics
But it wouldn't take long for Canada to answer.
Just two minutes into the second period,
Brianna Decker took this hi... @ Olympic Hockey on NBC
TIE GAME! A nice save lea... @ NBC Olympics
.@TeamUSA IS GOLDEN! The ... @ NBC Olympics
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