The United States defeated Canada 4-3 to win the women’s ice hockey world championships thanks to Tessa Janecke’s goal in overtime.
Canada was looking to win a fourth title in five years during Sunday’s final in České Budějovice, Czech Republic, but Janecke’s third goal of the tournament settled what was the longest game in the history of the women’s world championships.
The victory marked the USA’s 11th world title, moving two short of Canada’s 13.
Nearly half the game had gone by without a goal when Caroline Harvey and Abbey Murphy scored within 30 seconds of each other to give the US a 2-0 lead.
However, Canada responded through Danielle Serdachny and Jennifer Gardiner to tie the game at 2-2, with all four of the goals scored in the space of two and a half minutes.
The US took the lead once more in the third period with a goal from Taylor Heise, but Sarah Fillier hit back for Canada to tie the game and force overtime.
With 2:54 left in the final, Janecke scored the game-winner following a superb assist from Heise, avenging the overtime loss to Canada at last year’s world championships in Utica, New York.
“Games between these two teams are always classics and tonight was no different,” said US head coach John Wroblewski. “We had players up and down the lineup step up for us. It was a team effort I couldn’t be prouder of them.”
US goalie Gwyneth Philips, meanwhile, couldn’t hide her glee at the final buzzer: “Shock and awe. I’m ecstatic.”
Having also defeated Canada in the group stages, the US boasted an unbeaten record at the world championships following victories against Germany in the quarterfinal and host Czech Republic in the semifinals.
In the earlier bronze medal game on Sunday, Finland defeated the Czech Republic 4-3 in overtime.
This year’s tournament set an attendance record of 122,331, topping the 119,231 supporters who watched the 2007 world championships in Winnipeg, Canada.
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