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CANADA TOPS U.S. ON AMERICAN TURF
DENVER, Colo. – Canada’s National Women’s Team may have crossed over onto American soil Saturday night,
but some spectacular saves by Kim St. Pierre (Châteauguay, Que.) and crisp offensive passing helped the
Canadians earn a 4-2 win south of the border at the University of Denver’s Magness Arena.
This latest victory also gives Canada an edge against the United States in 2009-10, with four wins and
three losses.
Gina Kingsbury (Rouyn-Noranda, Que.) opened the scoring for Canada midway through the first period,
picking up the puck after it bounced off the back boards and slipping it past American netminder Jessie
Vetter. Meghan Agosta (Ruthven, Ont.) earned the assist after skating hard to the net and firing a shot in
the direction of Vetter to create the chance.
Gillian Ferrari (Thornill, Ont.), Caroline Ouellette (Montreal Que.) and Hayley Wickenheiser (Shaunavon,
Sask.) also sent some rockets soaring in Vetter’s direction during the first, but to no avail, sending Canada
to the dressing room up 1-0.
The Canadians came out flying in the second, pushing their lead to 3-0 with two goals less than a minute
apart in the early minutes of the period.
Marie-Philip Poulin (Beauceville, Que.) finished off a game of Canadian tic-tac-toe to make it 2-0 on a
Canadian power play, finishing off a pretty passing play from Sarah Vaillancourt (Sherbrooke, Que.) and
Catherine Ward (Montreal, Que.), and Ouellette made it a three-goal lead 58 seconds later, scoring after a
scramble in front of Vetter.
There was more back-and-forth action in the third, with Karen Thatcher cracking the goose egg for the
United States just over five minutes into the period to make it 3-1, but Agosta answered back for Canada less
than thirty seconds later to restore the three-goal advantage.
Hilary Knight put one more past St-Pierre on an American power play with the minutes ticking down, but
that would be as close as the U.S. got. Pulling Vetter in the dying minutes wasn’t enough to sway the game in
the direction of the Americans, with Canada claiming the win in front of a pro-U.S. crowd.
The United States will have a chance to come back this Tuesday, December 15, but this time it will be on
Canada’s home turf, with the puck dropping at Pengrowth Saddledome in Calgary, Alta. at 7:30 p.m. MT.
The two international rival teams will also face off against each other on Wednesday, December 30 at
the Xcel Energy Centre in St. Paul, Minn. (7 p.m. CT) and on Friday, January 1 at SBP Arena in Ottawa, Ont.
(7 p.m. ET).
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