COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Eight different U.S. Women’s National Team players registered points, including two goals from Brianna Decker (Dousman, Wis.), as Team USA topped Canada, 5-2, here today in Quebec City, Quebec, to open Team USA’s slate of games against Canada in preparation for the 2018 Olympic Winter Games.
“This is a good evaluation of where we are at.” said U.S. Women’s National Team head coach Robb Stauber (Medina, Minn.). “The reality is we won 5-2 and did a lot of good things, but I expect us to be a little cleaner in Boston.”
Hilary Knight (Sun Valley, Idaho) opened the scoring when she knocked home a loose puck in front of the crease on the power play at 9:05 of the first period, picking up a rebound off a shot from the point by Megan Bozek (Buffalo Grove, Ill.). The goal came shortly after Team Canada had a goal called back as a result of kicking the puck into the net. With four minutes remaining in the opening frame, Decker buried a rebound to double the U.S. lead. Canada scored with less than three minutes remaining in the period, and the U.S. had a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes.
Just more than a minute into the second stanza, Annie Pankowski (Laguna Hills, Calif.) converted off a centering pass from Alex Carpenter (North Reading, Mass.), to increase Team USA’s lead to two. Carpenter then gathered a cross-ice feed from Emily Pfalzer (Getzville, N.Y.) to score a shorthanded goal, extending the U.S. lead to 4-1 with 9:44 to play in the second. Decker added her second goal of the game, sending a one-timer off the faceoff past Canadian netminder Ann-Renée Desbiens making it 5-1 entering the final period.
Canada scored the lone goal of the third period to account for the 5-2 final. U.S. netminder Maddie Rooney (Andover, Minn.) stopped 23 of 25 shots in the win.
NOTES: For complete game statistics, click here … The U.S. and Canada will meet again on Wednesday (Oct. 25) at Boston University’s Agganis Arena at 7:30 p.m. ET, officially kicking off The Time is Now Tour, presented by Toyota. The Time is Now Tour consists of a series of games against Canada hosted in the U.S. in preparation for the 2018 Olympic Winter Games. For more information, including the full schedule and ticket information, visit TheTimeisNowTour.com … The U.S. and Canada will also meet two more times in Canada this season, including games on Dec. 5 in Winnipeg and Dec. 17 in Edmonton… NHL Network will televise three more U.S.-Canada games live, including Wednesday’s (Oct.25) game in Boston and the two others in Canada Dec. 5th and Dec. 17th. NBCSN will provide live broadcasts of the U.S.-Canada matchups on Dec. 3 in St. Paul and Dec. 15 in San Jose. HockeyTV.com will stream live all games of the Four Nations Cup… For full coverage of the U.S. Women’s National Team, click here. Follow along on social media @USAHockey on Twitter and Instagram, and Facebook.com/uswomenshockey.
