Team Canada beats Team USA, wins gold in women's worlds (2024)

UTICA, N.Y. — Team Canada won the IIHF Women’s World Championship in a thrilling 6-5 overtime game against Team USA on Sunday night.

Danielle Serdachny scored the game-winning goal just over five minutes into the first overtime period in a high-scoring, back-and-forth game against their cross-border rivals. The game was tied five different times with four lead changes, and it was the second-highest-scoring gold medal game ever at women’s worlds and the highest since the U.S. won 7-5 in 2015.

“No lead was safe,” said Serdachny, who will be among the top picks in the upcoming PWHL Draft. “(A lot of) back and forth goals, it was pretty wild and incredible to be part of it.”

GOLD FOR CANADA! DANIELLE SERDACHNY WINS IT IN OVERTIME! #WomensWorlds pic.twitter.com/fHmqUmHoGw

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) April 15, 2024

It was a big change from Team USA’s 1-0 overtime win against Canada on April 8 in the preliminary round with 10 goals scored by the end of regulation and eight in the final 40 minutes.

“The fans in the preliminary loved the 1-0 overtime win, like imagine this one where it’s 6-5?” said Canadian defender Renata Fast, who was the best defender of the tournament. “That’s the highest-scoring game between Canada and the U.S. that I have been a part of. It was just electric.”

After the first period, it seemed like it might be another tight contest between the top two teams the world, but that changed quickly in the second period. Julia Gosling, playing in her first world championship, scored to give Canada a 2-1 lead. The Americans took over the game after that, outshooting Canada 11-3 in the second period and scoring twice (from Megan Keller and Alex Carpenter) to take a 3-2 lead.

Marie-Philip Poulin stopped the U.S. momentum with her first goal of the tournament to tie the game heading into the second intermission.

“I think without that goal late in the second period, it’s a different hockey game,” said Canada coach Troy Ryan. “After them really taking it to us for the better part of that period, for her to come up with that goal at that time, we go in the dressing room and not feeling so bad about ourselves and that’s what she does.

“There’s very few athletes in the world that can perform in a pressure situation when she can.”

BARDOWN FROM MARIE-PHILIP POULIN TO TIE IT UP AGAIN! #WomensWorlds pic.twitter.com/hjZYENjTMX

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) April 14, 2024

A big story heading into the gold medal game was that Poulin hadn’t scored yet in the tournament. Before the tournament began on April 3, Poulin hadn’t played since March 8 after sustaining a lower-body injury while playing for Montreal in the PWHL. Despite having two assists in six games, her teammates knew that Poulin could make a difference when it mattered. It’s what she’s always done.

“She’s the most clutch player of all time,” said Fast. “If they had momentum, if she was on the ice, she was able to get it back for our team. And that’s what she did with that first goal.”

It seemed like Poulin won another gold medal on her stick with her second goal to put Canada up 5-4 with less than 10 minutes left in regulation. But American defender Caroline Harvey tied the game 5-5 to send the championship to overtime, which should have been no surprise between these two teams.

Three minutes into three-on-three overtime, Team USA was caught with too many players on the ice. Serdachny, playing in her second world championships, put the game away with only two seconds left on the ensuing power play.

“It was devastating,” Harvey said after the game. “It’s not the result we wanted. Not what we came here for.”

Team USA coach John Wroblewski, who also led Team USA to gold last year, did not want to linger on the penalty call and instead directed the attention to how Canada played.

“Canada was unbelievable in the trenches tonight,” he said. “They did an amazing job winning wall battles. I thought their defense made life extremely difficult on our young forwards. I’m excited to see the progression happen (for our team), and if we can build off of that.”

With a silver medal, American forward Hilary Knight is now the most decorated player in women’s world championship history with 14 medals (nine gold and five silver), passing Hockey Hall of Fame forward Hayley Wickenheiser (13).

Team USA entered the tournament with one of the most exciting young rosters to date, with a mix of decorated veterans — like Knight, the all-time leading scorer in worlds history, Carpenter and Kendall Coyne Schofield. Harvey, 21, scored the most points by a defender at a single tournament last year and is already fifth in all-time tournament scoring among defenders with 35 points in 27 games. Laila Edwards, 20, scored four goals in the last two games for the United States and was named the tournament MVP.

Team USA built a solid roster that was just short of winning now, but also sets up an intriguing and exciting core leading into the 2026 Olympics. Still, Canada’s mix of youth and experience was the one to strike gold. And that’s Canada’s third world championship in four years — and fourth gold medal if we include the 2022 Olympics.

“I think a lot of people ruled us out based on our age,” Ryan said. “I said to the group, win or lose this game, I would pick the same 23 people. Gina Kingsbury (Canada’s GM) would have picked the same 23 people. I like the age, I like the experience that we have, I like the leadership we have.”

Last year, Team USA beat Canada in the gold medal game on Canadian soil in Brampton, Ontario. The Canadians didn’t need extra motivation heading into a gold medal game, but they certainly didn’t forget what happened last year.

“We had a little bit of bad taste in our mouth,” Fast said. “When you’re playing on home soil, you want to get that gold medal for your country and with your fans behind you. So we came in on a mission for this tournament to get back to the top of the podium. And it feels really great to be there.”

Required reading

• USA and Canada to meet in IIHF Women’s World Championship gold medal game
• What we learned at women’s world championships: Canada-USA intensifies, tournament format and more
• A Canada-USA best-of-seven featuring men’s and women’s programs. Who says no?

(Photo: Troy Parla / Getty Images)