Classic encounter on ice as United States wins women's hockey worlds 4-3 in OT against Canada

CESKE BUDEJOVICE, Czech Republic — Tessa Janecke scored the winner as the United States prevailed in overtime against defending champion Canada 4-3 to win the women's ice hockey world championship on Sunday.

Janecke struck with 2:54 left in overtime for the Americans to claim their 11th title at the worlds.

Taylor Heise set up the winning goal in the gold-medal game.

With Sarah Fillier going to the bench, Canadian defenseman Jocelyne Larocque was pressured behind the net and sent a pass up the boards, with Heise intercepting the pass at the right point inside the blue line and feeding Janecke to score into the open left side of the net.

Janecke immediately celebrated her third goal of the tournament by throwing her stick into the stands.

"It's just sweeter, coming back from losing last year and being able to persevere,'' Janecke said.

It was a bitter end for Larocque who became Sunday the first defender to play 200 career games for Canada, and the fifth Canadian overall.

Abbey Murphy and Heise scored a goal and had an assist, and Caroline Harvey also scored for the U.S.

''Shock and awe,'' U.S. goalie Gwyneth Philips said after the drama. ''I'm ecstatic.''

Unbeaten U.S.

It was another thrilling matchup after Canada's 6-5 overtime win over the U.S. in last year's tournament held in Utica, N.Y. The Americans previously won the title in 2023 in Canada.

Canada still leads the world tournament with 13 gold medals. The cross-border rivals have met in the championship game in all but one tournament, in 2019, when host Finland defeated Canada in the semifinal before losing to the U.S.

The U.S. won the preliminary group with four wins from four, including a 2-1 victory over Canada, and eliminating Germany in the quarterfinals and Czech Republic in the semifinals at the 12-day, 10-nation tournament in the southern Czech city of Ceske Budejovice.

Last big test

In the last major international test before the Milan Winter Games in February, the U.S. has now won two of the past three world championships, though Canada is the defending Olympic champion.

Danielle Serdachny, Jennifer Gardiner and Fillier scored for Canada which outshot the U.S. 47-30.

U.S. captain Hilary Knight recorded an assist to increase her record at the worlds to 53. She is the all-time scoring leader with 120 points. In her 15th world championship appearance, she won a record 10th gold medal.

''I think this is a watershed moment for women's hockey, and it's really exciting to be a part of,'' Knight said.

Canada captain Marie-Philip Poulin, the tournament MVP, had an assist to top the scoring table at the tournament with 12 points from four goals and eight assists.

With an assist in the final, her 50th, Poulin broke Hayley Wickenheiser's Canada record of 49. Poulin had already surpassed Wickenheiser to become the most prolific Canadian in women's worlds history at the tournament. She has an overall points tally of 89.

Archrivals

In a classic encounter between the two archrivals, Fillier tied the game for Canada again at 3-3 with 5:48 remaining, forcing overtime.

Heise had restored a 3-2 lead for the Americans 5:27 into the final period with a wrist shot into the the top left corner of the net on a 5-3 power play.

U.S. goaltender Aerin Frankel had to be replaced by Philips 4:35 into the final period after a crash with Laura Stacey who received a penalty for charging, giving the Americans the 5-3 advantage.

Frankel made 27 saves and Philips stopped 17 shots.

''Games between these two teams are always classics and tonight was no different,'' U.S. head coach John Wroblewski said. ''We had players up and down the lineup step up for us. It was a team effort, I couldn't be prouder of them.''

His Canada counterpart Troy Ryan said his team ''carried the play enough to potentially be successful,'' and "it could have gone either way.''

''Multiple times in that overtime or even in the third, either group could have won it,'' Ryan said. ''Just a matter of finishing the opportunities that you get. "

Heavy traffic

After a goalless opening period, the U.S. jumped to a 2-0 lead with a couple of goals in the span of 29 seconds in the middle period.

Harvey put the U.S. ahead with a wrist shot through heavy traffic 7:16 into the period. Murphy doubled the advantage on a rebound after goalie Ann-Renee Desbiens was unable to hold the bouncing puck.

Canada's answer was quick.

Serdachny one-timed a shot past Frankel to reduce the lead to 2-1 only 52 seconds after Murphy's goal. Another 55 seconds later, Poulin was behind the net when she fed Gardiner unmarked in front of the goal to tie it at 2-2 with her sixth goal to top the tournament scoring leaders.

Overall attendance at the women's tournament, the first in the Czech Republic, reached 122,331 spectators, breaking the previous record of 119,231 set in Winnipeg, Canada in 2007.

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AP women's hockey: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-hockey