KAMLOOPS, British Columbia – Alex Carpenter (North Reading, Mass.) scored 12:30 into overtime and Alex Rigsby (Delafield, Wis.) recorded a 32-save shutout to lead the U.S. Women’s National Team to a 1-0 victory here against Canada at the 2016 International Ice Hockey Federation Women’s World Championship.
“It was another great rivalry game between these two teams and I’m so proud of our players and how hard we competed from start to finish,” said Ken Klee, head coach of the 2016 U.S. Women’s National Team. “We gave it everything we had against a very strong opponent in what was a terrific showcase for women’s hockey.”
The U.S. won all five of its games in the tournament and has now captured the gold medal in six of the last seven IIHF Women’s World Championships.
Team USA was forced to kill off two 4-on-3 power plays in the overtime session, including one that encompassed the first 1:52 of the extra session and another that lasted two full minutes and ended just :19 short of the midway point of the 20-minute sudden victory overtime period. Rigsby made seven of her 32 saves in overtime. The U.S. got its own chance on the power play at 10:21 of the extra stanza. While unable to convert, it was just :09 after the penalty expired that Carpenter got her stick on a loose puck in the crease and put home the golden goal. The play started after Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson (Grand Forks, N.D.) redirected a shot from Megan Bozek (Buffalo Grove, Ill.) that trickled past Canadian netminder Emerance Maschmeyer.
Canada outshot the U.S. by a 12-9 count in the opening period. Monique Lamoureux (Grand Forks, N.D.) nearly gave Team USA the lead with a slap shot from the blue line on the power play midway through the period but Maschmeyer was equal to the test.
Seven minutes into the second frame, Rigsby made a pad save on an attempt in-close by Laura Fortino to keep Canada off the board. With four minutes left on the clock in the second period, Carpenter and Haley Skarupa (Rockville, Md.) had a two-on-one rush that was broken up by a Canadian defenseman.
The U.S. successfully killed off a Canadian power play early in the third period and another halfway through the period. And despite five shots on goal on its own power play in the first half of the third period, could not solve Maschmeyer.
Team USA will look to defend its gold medal on home ice when it hosts the 2017 IIHF Women’s World Championship next April at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth, Michigan.
NOTES: The U.S. killed all six Canada power plays. For complete game statistics, click here … Alex Rigsby was named the U.S. Player of the Game … Rigsby, Hilary Knight and Monique Lamoureux were named Team USA’s top three players of the tournament … Knight was named the top forward of the tournament by the Directorate … The U.S. finished the tournament having not allowed a goal in more than 11 periods … The U.S. outscored its opponents 23-2 in its five games at the world championship … The U.S. has played Canada in the gold medal game in all 17 of the previous events, capturing the event’s top prize now a total of seven times (2005, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2016), including six of the last seven tournaments. In the IIHF Women’s World Championship, Team USA has a 10-2-5-8-0 record (W-OTW-OTL-L-T) vs. Canada overall … Reagan Carey (Colorado Springs, Colo.), USA Hockey’s director of women’s hockey, is the general manager of the 2016 U.S. Women’s National Team. Ken Klee (Denver, Colo.) is head coach of the 2016 U.S. Women’s National Team, and Brett Strot (Tampa, Fla.) and Chris Tamer (Dexter, Mich.) are assistant coaches.
