Sophie Skarzynski (Lake Forest, Ill.) and Sophia Shaver (Wayzata, Minn.) registered multiple-point games and Rebecca Gilmore (Wayland, Mass.) scored for the third consecutive outing. Skarzynski had one goal and one assist and Shaver recorded a pair of assists. In net, Brittany Bulgalski (Lake Worth, Fla.) stood tall and stopped 24 of 25 shots she faced.
“We got better each game of the series and had our best game here today,” said Joel Johnson, head coach of the U.S. Women’s Under-18 Select Team. “We had timely saves and our special teams play was improved. Overall, I was really proud of our effort and resiliency.”
The U.S. grabbed the lead at 5:58 of the opening period when Alexis Mauermann (Janesville, Wis.) skated into the offensive zone on a three-on-one and fed Alex Woken (Fargo, N.D.) who converted on the cross-ice pass and beat the Canadian goaltender high on the glove side.
Canada notched the equalizer nearly four minutes later on the power play.
At 11:33 of the second period, Skarzynski battled through traffic in front of the net and picked up a loose rebound on a point shot from Mekenzie Steffen (White Bear Township, Minn.) and tucked the puck just inside the right post to make it 2-1.
Late in the third period, Grace Bizal (Minnetonka, Minn.) retrieved the puck high in the slot and chipped it past the opposing goaltender to go ahead, 3-1.
In the final minute of the game, Gilmore made it 4-1, tallying an empty-netter with assists going to Melissa Samoskevich (Sandy Hook, Conn.) and Shaver.
