Captain Marie-Philip Poulin - nicknamed Captain Clutch for scoring the winning goals in three out of four Olympic gold medal games - led her team to a sensational run over the two-week long tournament. She was one of the forwards named to the All-Star team at the end of the tournament. The other two forwards were also Canadian: Brianne Jenner, the overall MVP, and Sarah Nurse, the newest Olympic record holder for most points at 18. (counting both goals and assists) With brilliant stars like them, it was not a surprise that they were the only team to breeze through the group stage with no losses to arrive at the playoff rounds at the top of the standings. They then easily beat Sweden and Switzerland 11-0 and 10-3 respectively to meet the US for the gold-medal game.
Only Canada and the US have won the women’s ice hockey title since the 1998 Olympics, where the discipline was first included. All eyes were on the highly anticipated final to determine if there would be a 5th Canadian win or the US could continue their reign as defending champions from 2018. The Americans also had a good streak going, only losing once to the Canadians only in the tournament through the group stage and playoffs. Kendall Coyne Schofield was captain here and also when they won Pyeongchang, and goaltender Alex Cavallini was also there for both. However, Cavallini revealed soon after the game that she was fresh off an MCL injury sustained in January, and considering that, is a star for bringing the Americans to the final. She was in goal for all of the playoffs, but the group stage was shared between her, Maddie Rooney and Nicole Hensley. (Cavallini and Hensley both logged shutouts as two of four tenders to do so - the others being Canada’s Ann-Renée Desbiens and Finland’s Anni Keisala)
The gold-medal game moved almost immediately into Canada’s favour, with Nurse scoring a goal within eight minutes. Then Poulin essentially sealed the victory with a 2-0 lead seven minutes after that, then the game-winning goal in the second period. The US team had to chase down a 3-0 lead, but apart from two successful goals scored by Hilary Knight and Amanda Kessel, their attempted shots on goal - of which they took 40 - seemed sloppy against the Canadians’ defence. The Canadians by comparison took only 21 shots against Desbiens but seemed much more composed.
Speaking after the final, Poulin said, “It feels very good – 2018 was very hard. You take some time to reflect on what you need to do better as a group and personally. It really pays off. When you surround yourself with good people, good things happen.”