With files from Lucas Aykroyd/IIHF website
Alex Carpenter scored at 12:30 of overtime to lift the United States to a 1-0 victory over host Canada and to their third straight International Ice Hockey Federation women’s world championship.
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Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson and Megan Bozek assisted on the gold-medal goal at the Sandman Centre in Kamloops on Monday.
Carpenter, who popped the puck behind Canadian goalie Emerance Maschmeyer in a wild goalmouth scramble, said United States weren't getting frustrated because they couldn't score and just kept plugging away.
The goal came just after a 4-on-3 U.S. powerplay had expired, with defender Halli Krzyzaniak off for holding. The Americans killed off two Canadian 4-on-3's in overtime.
It’s the seventh world title in the past nine years for the Americans, who had defeated Canada 3-1 in the opening round-robin game of the tournament. It was the 17th straight final between the North American superpowers, dating back to the first Women’s Worlds in Ottawa in 1990.
Despite going scoreless for more than 72 minutes, the two teams provided plenty of excitement for the 5,850 fans at a sold-out Sandman Centre.
The U.S.'s Alex Rigsby won the goaltending duel with Maschmeyer, but both of them were excellent. Shots favored the U.S. 34-32.
This tight battle was a whole different beast from the 2015 final, a wild 7-5 U.S. victory in Malmo. And even though it was low-scoring, it wasn't an argument for bigger nets or smaller goalie equipment.
The teams came out at a blistering pace, playing the first five minutes with no whistles. Canada’s Bailey Bram got the first good chance, nearly surprising Rigsby with a bad-angle shot. Then Jillian Saulnier busted down right wing, getting past U.S. defender Megan Keller, and took it hard to the net.
About six minutes into the second period, Agosta pivoted on the right-side boards and found a pinching Laura Fortino on the doorstep, forcing Rigsby to make a superb pad save.
Canada went back to the power play near the halfway mark when Brianna Decker was sent off for a hook on Saulnier. The U.S. got the best chance, though, as Alex Carpenter was stoned by Maschmeyer on her shorthanded breakaway.
Canada put the Americans under siege in their own zone to open the third. But after killing off a penalty to captain Megan Duggan, the Americans went on the offensive on their own power play. Maschmeyer was sharp to deny a pair of hard Kacey Bellamy one-timers from the right faceoff circle.
The Canadians mounted one last rush in regulation, and Brianne Jenner came within a heartbeat of banging it in at the side of the net before the horn. But there was a payoff for the host nation, as Monique Lamoureux was dispatched to the sin bin for hooking at 19:52.
Agosta had two brilliant chances to finish it off during the first 4-on-3 power play in overtime, but couldn't finish. She put one past the post, while Rigsby got her blocker on the other. The U.S. goalie also came up big on a Marie-Philip Poulin one-timer from the right faceoff circle.
The Canadians also failed to score with U.S. defender Lee Stecklein off for hooking seven minutes later.
This is the first time in history that both the gold medal game and the bronze medal game have finished 1-0. (Russia beat Finland 1-0 in a shootout for bronze earlier.) The last time a team won gold by that score was when Angela Ruggiero's shootout goal gave the U.S. its first title ever in 2005.
The U.S. will look to defend its world title at the 2017 IIHF Women's World Championship in Plymouth, Michigan.
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