URL:http://www.canoe.ca/HockeyWomen/apr7_itw.html
Monday, April 7, 1997
IT WAS DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN
KITCHENER, Ontario (AP) -- Three times, they have ended this way:
Canada first, United States second. Gold and silver.
It started the same way Sunday night at the Women's World Ice Hockey
Championship -- Canada scoring first, then the United States. Three
times one, then the other, bring the championship to its first
overtime.
In the end, it was Canada first again, winning its fourth straight
gold medal as Nancy Drolet stretched behind U.S. goalie Erin Whitten
to tip in a fluttering puck at 12:59 of overtime for a 4-3 victory.
"The tougher the times get, we dig down deep," winning goalie Lesley
Reddon said, her neck draped with a gold medal and, beneath it, a tiny
gold heart on a red ribbon, like that worn by every member of the
team.
The Canadians have beaten the Americans for all four titles, but this
was the first in which they needed overtime.
"We can't blame anything but ourselves, and we can't even blame
ourselves," Whitten said. "I think even the Canadians know we could
have won this game. I believe we honestly can win the entire thing,
and I know we just need another chance to prove it."
In a game that had as much back-and-forth and hitting as a ping-pong
match, Drolet scored her third goal of the game at the end of one of
Canada's innumerable rushes. Whitten failed to get her glove on the
initial shot by Hayley Wickenheiser, and Drolet knocked in the winner.
"It's just a feeling. You don't have time to think," she said. "Today
I got three goals, but in 10 years, people are going to say Canada won
the fourth (gold) medal game. They won't say Nancy Drolet scored three
goals. That's the most important thing."
Whitten, deafened by the cheers of the standing-room crowd of more
than 6,200, thought the whistle had blown as the play rushed toward
her. She realized it hadn't too late to get a good angle on the puck,
which skimmed beneath her arm and stopped behind her feet for Drolet.
"I had no clue where it was, and I didn't have anybody to tell me
where it was," she said.
The Canadian players stormed off the bench, flung their gloves and
sticks in the air and began hugging at center ice. Several Canadians
draped flags over themselves during the medals ceremony as the fans
gave them a rousing ovation.
After receiving their gold medals, Canadian players stood at the blue
line with their arms around each other's shoulders and sang "O
Canada."
The hearts were the idea of two-time gold medalist Cassie Campbell,
and were handed out to all the players and staff before the game,
longtime national team member France St. Louis said. Each also wore a
string of faded blue yarn, tied there during training camp to remain
until the championship.
It was the sense of togetherness that kept the team fighting into the
extra period, coach Shannon Miller said.
"We're really tight, we really are. We're like a family. It's not the
technical stuff that gets you through these overtimes," she said. "We
care about each other a lot and that's how these girls keep winning."
Drolet scored Canada's first goal on a power play with 24 seconds
left in the first period, shoveling home Stacy Wilson's backhand pass.
The U.S. team tied in the second when Alana Blahoski swatted the puck
through goalie
Reddon's pads and it dribbled slowly over the line.
Canada made it 2-1 two minutes later when Angela James' slap shot
bounced off a U.S. player and into the net. Team USA tied it again
when Stephanie O'Sullivan scooped a fluttering puck out of a goalmouth
scramble on a power play.
Drolet opened the third by batting in a rebound over Whitten's
shoulder for a 3-2 lead. Less than three minutes later, the score was
tied again by U.S. forward Katie King.
Whitten turned back 19 shots in regulation and eight in overtime,
while Reddon had 24 saves.
Finland defeated China 3-0 for the bronze medal, while Sweden earned
the fifth and final berth for the 1998 Olympics by defeating Russia
3-1. Switzerland defeated Norway 1-0 in the seeding game.
Canada, the United States, Finland, China and Sweden will join host
country Japan in Nagano next winter at the first Olympic women's ice
hockey games.
Finland earned the bronze -- its fourth since the first Worlds in
1990 -- when Tiina Paananen fired a slap shot through the
tight-checking Chinese defense at 13:37 of the third period.
SLAM!
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