Much like Tipperary did to Kilkenny in the All-Ireland hurling final in 2010, the USA women's team ended Canada's dreams of completing a five-in-a-row in a dramatic ice hockey final this morning in Pyeongchang.
The Americans won a hotly contested battle for the Olympic gold medal that needed to be settled by a penalty shootout after the game finished 2-2 following overtime.
The match was an entertaining tit-for-tat, but the Canadians were clearly wilting in the extra period, as the Americans rained down attack after attack on the opposition goal.
Despite looking the more likely to get a winner with time winding down, America had a player sent to the sin bin with just over a minute and a half to go. Despite the one woman advantage, Canada couldn’t force a way through the resolute USA defense.
The penalty shootout was as entertaining, if not more than the 80 minutes of game time that had preceded it. Both sides exchanged the lead with the some fine goal-tending and exquisite shooting on show, but none better than the winning shot by American player Jocelyn Lamoureux.
Lamoureux, whose sister Monique had scored the equaliser near the end of regulation, jinked one way only to dummy the goalkeeper and slide the puck in from the opposite side.
LAMOUREUX’S WINNER. USA GETS GOLD pic.twitter.com/zzPWyilraE
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) February 22, 2018
It's like if you intentionally dislocated your shoulder to freak out a defender who you know is already going to bite on your Eurostep. And you're doing it on ice. I dunno, man, that's amazing. https://t.co/583xUIn7Hv
— Danny Chau (@dannychau) February 22, 2018
The winning goal led to scenes of jubilation from the American hockey team, who secured only their second medal in the competition after last winning gold in 1998. Team Canada by contrast looked despondent, having won every single Olympic final in the intervening period.
The last team going for five ice hockey titles in a row was the Soviet Union’s men’s team in 1980, who were also beaten by the United States and famously recalled in the film Miracle On Ice.
