U.S. Women Top Canada, 4-1, in Pre-IIHF World Women's Championship Game
ANN ARBOR, Mich. - The U.S. women earned a 4-1 victory over Canada here tonight in front of a sellout crowd at the Ann Arbor Ice Cube in a game prior to the 2011 International Ice Hockey Federation World Women's Championship.
The U.S. squad was made up of 20 of the 30 players vying for a spot on the U.S. Women's National Team, while Canada was skating with its final 21-player tournament roster. The 21-player U.S. Women's National Team roster that will compete in the 2011 IIHF World Women's Championship will be announced tomorrow (April 9) via USAHockey.com at 10 a.m. EDT.
The U.S. jumped out to a 1-0 lead just :45 into the game when Monique Lamoureux-Kolls (Grand Forks, N.D.) beat Canadian netminder Kim St-Pierre with a high shot from the top of the slot. Jen Schoullis (Erie, Pa.) made it a 2-0 game in the last second of a U.S. power play when she knocked in Jenny Potter's (Edina, Minn.) rebound at 15:44. The Americans outshot the Canadians three-fold in the opening frame, holding a 15-5 advantage.
In the closing seconds of the middle stanza, during the Americans' third power-play opportunity of the period, Lamoureux-Kolls corralled a cleared puck in her own zone and sent a long pass through the neutral zone to Brianna Decker (Dousman, Wis.). Decker skated in on new Canadian goaltender Charline Labonte and scored with a backhanded shot at 19:52 to put the U.S. up 3-0.
Canada scored on the power play at 1:21 of the third period, before the U.S. closed out scoring at 10:59 with a Gigi Marvin (Warroad, Minn.) wrist shot from the top of the left faceoff circle.
Jessie Vetter (Cottage Grove, Wis.) and Molly Schaus (Natick, Mass.) combined for 28 saves in the winning effort.
