Although the win may not have looked as decisive as some of the other scores Team USA racked up during the IIHF World Championship, they won nevertheless.
For some time, it looked as though the IIHF Women’s World Championship might belong to Team Canada, based on all of the drama surrounding the contract negotiations and announced boycott of Team USA. However, the team and USA Hockey came to an agreement. The tournament started. The team started scoring goals and winning. They looked absolutely unstoppable going into Friday’s final match.
It may have taken them a trip into overtime to overcome Team Canada, but yes, Team USA has secured the gold medal, scoring 3 goals to Canada’s 2.
Check out Hilary Knight scoring the winning goal for Team USA about 10 minutes into the overtime period:
At the end there, that’s one heck of a celebration by the ladies of Team USA. It almost seems like the glass is going to bow under the weight of so many players! But it held, and they got all of their hugs in.
With this win, it looks like Team USA has a pretty tight hold on the title, having won the three past championships as well. Additionally, by the terms of the new agreement with USA Hockey, it seems like it might be even easier for the players to focus on improving their games going forward.
It’s also a positive sign for the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Team USA has won gold at the Olympics before in 1998, and Sochi in 2014 saw the team snag silver. The pools have already been set for the 2018 Games. Team USA is in Group A alongside Canada, Finland, and Russia; they snagged wins over each of the other three countries during this tournament and beat Canada twice.
Next: Ice Skating Worlds: Ladies Results
It’s far too early to start really prognosticating, but even so, a better deal and a very emphatic showing at this year’s IIHF World Championship shows that the U.S. Women’s National Team may be ready to rumble.