U.S. Women's National Team Edged by Canada to Open 2013 IIHF Women's World Championship
OTTAWA, Ont. – The U.S. Women's National Team fell victim to a late Canadian rally, dropping a 3-2 shootout decision to the home team to open the 2013 International Ice Hockey Federation Women's World Championship here tonight at Scotiabank Place in front of a crowd of 11,174.
Team USA held a 2-0 advantage through the mid-point of the third period, before Canada came back to tie the game with under two minutes to play. Following a scoreless five-minute overtime, the Canadians tallied twice in the shootout to capture the victory.
"It was the first game with a lot of energy and emotion," said Katey Stone, head coach of the U.S. Women's National Team. "We played hard and it was a tough game that could have gone either way. We'll manage it better and come together even further as the next week in Ottawa moves on."
The Americans put two on the board in the first period while outshooting the Canadians by a 13-5 margin. Monique Lamoureux (Grand Forks, N.D.) opened the scoring on the power play at 4:05 with a wrist shot that beat Canadian netminder Shannon Szabados to the near side from the bottom of the left faceoff circle. Brianna Decker (Dousman, Wis.) then made it 2-0 with 1:06 left in the frame when she batted in her own rebound from the goalmouth while tied up with a Canadian player.
Despite penalty trouble in the second frame, Team USA maintained its two-goal advantage, stopping Canada on five power play opportunities, including nearly a minute of five-on-three action.
The momentum shifted to Canada in the third period, as the home team used two late goals to tie the score and force overtime. The first came at 11:13 after U.S. goaltender Jessie Vetter (Cottage Grove, Wis.) made the initial save, but lost the rebound during a scramble in front of the net. Rebecca Johnston knocked in the loose puck for a 2-1 score. The tying goal came at 18:13 when Catherine Ward tapped in the loose puck through traffic on a Sarah Vaillancourt rebound.
Following a scoreless overtime session, Jennifer Wakefield tallied the game-winning shootout goal. Both her and Meghan Agosta-Marciano were successful in the shootout, while Hilary Knight (Sun Valley, Idaho) scored the lone U.S. goal.
