Marie-Philip Poulin scored twice in the first period and Shannon Szabados made 28 saves as Team Canada beat the United States 2-0 to win the gold medal at the Vancouver Olympics on Thursday.
It's Team Canada's third consecutive gold medal.
But it had been a while since the Canadian women had beaten the Americans in a meaningful game. The past two world championships had seen Canada lose to the U.S. — and that stung.
"I was standing there on the blue-line after and I thought to myself, 'I can't believe I got a shutout,'" said Szabados, who made 28 saves. "But I would have been satisfied with a 9-8 score as long as we won."
Szabados was particularly brilliant in the second period. Poulin of Quebec City, the youngest player on Canada and its fourth-line centre, scored twice in the first period. Then the game was turned over to Szabados, who made half her stops in the middle frame.
"She was like a rock," Canadian defenceman Colleen Sostorics said.
Canadian coach Melody Davidson could have started any of her three standout goalies. Charline Labonté and Kim St-Pierre are the others. But Davidson made the right choice in the stingy Szabados.
Plays against boys
The 23-year-old Edmonton native made headlines earlier in her career when she played against the boys in the Alberta Junior Hockey League and later in a game with the Tri-City Americans in the WHL.
She also played minor hockey with current Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Dion Phaneuf while growing up in Edmonton.
She still has plans to one day play pro hockey against men. But first she yearned for an Olympic gold medal with the women.
"I looked up in the stands and saw a sign that said "Proud to be Canadian" and that's what I am today," said Szabados, who plays with men at Grant MacEwen College in Edmonton.
The exuberant crowd of 16,805 at Canada Hockey Place included Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Wayne Gretzky, Canadian snowboard cross gold medallist Maelle Ricker, actor Michael J. Fox, defenceman Scott Niedermayer and most of the Canadian men's team, as well as head coach Mike Babcock and assistant coach Lindy Ruff.
Some wondered if this would be the last hurrah for 31-year-old Hayley Wickenheiser, who with teammates Jennifer Botterill, Becky Kellar and Jayna Hefford has played in four Olympics. But Wickenheiser indicated she will likely stick around for the Games in Sochi, Russia, in 2014.
"I think I could have another Olympics in me," Wickenheiser said. "It's very demanding, hard on my family, I have a young son. We'll see. But I'm really forward to taking it year by year and see how the program evolves."
Canadian figure skater Joannie Rochette won the hearts of the Pacific Coliseum crowd with a gutsy performance to earn an Olympic bronze medal four days after her mother's death.
Thérèse Rochette, 55, died of a heart attack early Sunday, shortly after arriving in Vancouver to support her daughter.
"That's what my mother would have wanted me to do," Rochette said of her decision to compete. "That's how she raised me. She was always by my side. She was my biggest fan."
Rochette, from Île Dupas, Que., came out strongly with a triple Lutz/double toe/double toe sequence while skating to Saint-Saens's Samson and Delilah, but landed awkwardly on a triple flip.
The 24-year-old regained her composure and impressed with her spiral sequence. Her remaining jumps weren't technically the best, but Rochette displayed her mettle by fighting to land them.
She scored 202.64 points to earn bronze. Kim Yu-Na of South Korea won the gold with 228.56, breaking her own world record, and Mao Asada took silver with 205.50.
Rochette is Canada's first Olympic medallist in women's figure skating since Elizabeth Manley took silver in Calgary in 1988.
Rochette wiped away tears after accepting her bronze medal.
Cynthia Phaneuf, 22, of Contrecoeur, Que., finished 12th.
Also on Thursday, Kevin Martin earned the chance to defend Canada's Olympic title in men's curling while getting his own second shot at gold after his rink dispatched Niklas Edin's Swedish foursome 6-3 in a semifinal.
Martin's team of Marc Kennedy, Ben Hebert and John Morris are now undefeated through their 10 games in the tournament and will look for their 11th straight victory to repeat Canada's gold-medal performance of 2006, won by Brad Gushue in Turin, Italy.
Saturday's final against Norway puts Martin in gold-medal position again after his 2002 Olympic final, where he had to settle for silver against Norwegian Pal Trulsen.
Gold on line
Canada's Cheryl Bernard will play for Olympic gold in women's curling after defeating two-time silver medallist Switzerland 6-5 in Thursday's semifinals.
The Calgarian wasn't at her best for much of the day, curling 74 per cent as she battled a cold, but she delivered when it mattered most.
Bernard made a difficult takeout in the ninth to extend her lead to two heading into the final end. There, she nailed another tough shot to remove one of two Switzerland shot stones, then watched Swiss skip Mirjam Ott roll her own takeout throw out of the house to settle for one with the game's final rock.
Other Canadian results from Thursday:
Alpine skiing, women's giant slalom: Marie-Michele Gagnon of Lac-Etchemin, Que., finished fifth in 1:11.48; Britt Janyk of Whistler, B.C., was eighth (1:11.66); Marie-Pier Prefontaine of Saint-Sauveur, Que., was 23rd (1:12.50); and Shona Rubens of Canmore, Alta., was 26th (1:12.87).
Cross-country skiing, women's 4x5K relay: Canada (Perianne Jones, Madeleine Williams, Chandra Crawford, Daria Gaiazova) was 16th in 1:00:05.0.
Freestyle skiing, men's aerials finals: Kyle Nissen of Calgary was fifth (126.92); Steve Omischl of North Bay, Ont., was ninth (112.39) and Warren Shouldice of Calgary was 10th (94.03).
Nordic combined skiing, men's long-hill individual: Jason Myslicki of Calgary was 44th.
Source:cbc.ca/
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