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USA-CAN Rivalry Continues to Shine as Opposing Countries Make Significant Headway

03/29/2014, 10:00pm MDT
By Rob Koch - USAHockey.com

The U.S. and Canada will compete today for a gold medal at the 2014 IIHF Under-18 Women’s World Championship in Budapest, Hungary, in what has become one of the greatest rivalries in all of sports. It’s also a story in the sports realm that doesn’t get the attention it fully deserves.
 
The U.S. and Canada are the toast of women’s hockey and benchmark teams to beat. It’s uncommon to see such dominance by two teams and the match-up between them has become the pinnacle of competition in women’s hockey at all levels. In the recent 2014 Olympic Winter Games, it was once again on display at its finest with a thrilling come from behind victory by Canada in overtime.
 
When these teams face off, it’s a North American border war that is equivalent of the Lakers-Celtics, Yankees-Red Sox and whatever other rivalry you want to point to. These games often seem to go to an extra session or end with a one-goal difference in highly competitive and entertaining games that rarely disappoint.
 
It’s fair to say that there is still a gap between these countries and those they oppose, but it’s also extremely important to note that in the years ahead, it’s less likely that we will see such a consistent match up in the finals due to a disappearing disparity as other countries quickly improve.  You can point to the semifinals here in Budapest as evidence to that. Canada was taken to the limit by Russia and won, 1-0, in overtime while Team USA was tied with the Czech Republic, 1-1, going into the third period in a game they eventually won, 3-1.  And just a year ago at this event, the U.S. beat the Czech team twice by duplicate scores of 10-0.
 
The ebb and flow of success will eventually include other countries that will wrestle away their share of victories, so be sure to cherish this rivalry while you can savor each and every hard fought battle.
 
The tournament is in its seventh year of existence and the two teams will look to break a deadlock between the countries. Each time they have met it has been with the gold medal on the line and each has won three times.
 
The players in today’s game already have a growing taste of the bitterness in this rivalry and will be sure to carry it forward with pride and passion. It sets up to be another classic chapter in this storied rivalry.

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CALGARY, Alta. – The U.S. Women's National Under-18 Team captured the first-ever gold medal awarded at the inaugural 2008 International Ice Hockey Federation World Women's U18 Championship with a 5-2 victory over Canada here tonight at the Father David Bauer Arena. Alyssa Grogan (Eagan, Minn.) made 26 saves in the win, while five different players scored for the undefeated Team USA (5-0-0-0).

"I feel thoroughly satisfied with how these young athletes came to play tonight and they went out and won a world championship," said Katey Stone, head coach for Team USA and also the head women's ice hockey coach at Harvard University. "We went out, attacked and brought it home. It's a great day for USA Hockey."

Team USA came out strong in the first period, holding a 13-9 shots advantage and gaining a 2-0 advantage. Meagan Mangene (Manorville, N.Y.) opened the scoring at 12:12 when Brooke Ammerman (River Vale, N.J.) sent her a feed from behind the net and she roofed it from the bottom of the slot. Ammerman then tallied her sixth goal of the tournament at 18:48, as she grabbed Brianna Decker's (Dousman, Wis.) rebound at the right post and used her backhand to take it to the open left side of the net for a 2-0 U.S. lead heading into the second frame.

In the middle stanza, the Americans scored twice more to go up 4-0 before Canada used a power play to get on the board. U.S. goal No. 3 came at 2:29 of the period. CaptainSarah Erickson (LaPorte, Minn.) took a shot from the right faceoff circle that rebounded out to the left side, where Kendall Coyne (Palos Heights, Ill.) put it low past Canadian netminder Delayne Brian. Decker was next to light the lamp for the United States, as she skated the puck into Canada's zone from center ice and got a shot off with a Canadian player in tow. The shot hit the crossbar and landed in the net at 8:14 for a four-goal U.S. advantage.

The lone Canadian goal of the second period came at 18:17, while the Americans were down a man and had just killed off over a minute of a 5-on-3 Canadian advantage. Lauriane Rougeau took a shot from the left point that went off Carolyne Prevost's stick and into the U.S. net past Grogan.

Canada cut its deficit to 4-2 early in the final frame when Jessica Jones' wrister from the left faceoff circle slipped low inside the far post at 2:20. Amanda Kessel (Madison, Wis.) secured the gold-medal victory for Team USA with 7:46 to go in the game, as she skated in front of the goalmouth and beat Brian low for the 5-2 final.

NOTES: Brooke Ammerman was named the U.S. Player of the Game ...Team USA went 1-for-6 on the power play, while Canada was 1-for-5 with the man advantage ... Alyssa Grogan won the Directorate Award as the tournament's top goaltender ... Kendall Coyne, Anne Schleper (St. Cloud, Minn.) and Sarah Erickson were named Team USA's best players of the tournament ... Amanda Kessel (4-7--10) led the U.S. team in scoring ... Joining Katey Stone on the coaching staff as assistant coaches were Erin Whitten Hamlen, associate women’s ice hockey coach at the University of New Hampshire, andBob Deraney, head women’s ice hockey coach at Providence College.

GAME SUMMARY

Scoring By Period

USA 2 2 1 -- 5

CAN 0 1 1 -- 2

First Period - Scoring: 1, USA, Mangene (Ammerman), 12:12; 2, USA, Ammerman (Decker), 18:48. Penalties: USA, Bolden (high-sticking), 1:08; CAN, Rougeau (interference), 1:20; CAN, Watt (delay of game), 18:48.

Second Period - Scoring: 3, USA, Coyne (Erickson), 2:29; 4, USA, Decker (unassisted), 8:14; 5, CAN, Prevost (Rougeau), 18:17 (pp). Penalties: USA, Sherry (interference), 4:07; USA, Wild (holding), 8:42; CAN, Poulin (cross-checking), 13:22; USA, Bolden (interference), 16:12; USA, Grogan (tripping), 17:18.

Third Period - Scoring: 6, CAN, Jones (Prevost), 2:20; 7, USA, Kessel (unassisted), 12:14 (pp). Penalties: CAN, Team (too many players on the ice), 5:26; CAN, Poulin (hooking), 10:25; CAN, Watt (tripping), 18:15.

Shots by Period 1 2 3 Total
USA   13 8 6 27
CAN   9 13 6 28
           
Goaltenders (SH/SV)   1 2 3 Total
USA, Grogan, 60:00   9-9 13-12 6-5 28-26
CAN, Brian, 60:00   13-11 8-6 6-5 27-22

Power Play:USA 1-6; CAN 1-5

Penalties: USA 5-10; CAN 6-12
Officials: Referee-Joy Tottman (GBR); Linesmen-Marina Konstantinova (RUS), Alice Stanley (GBR)

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