VANCOUVER — Have silver medalists ever looked so glum?
With downcast eyes, the women of the U.S. hockey team were forced to listen as Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper, NHL legend Wayne Gretzky and the crowd in an arena brimming with Maple Leaf pride belted the words to “O Canada” after the home team took the Olympic championship with a 2-0 victory.
“Obviously, we’re disappointed,” U.S. captain Natalie Darwitz said Thursday night, after the Americans lost to Canada for the seventh straight time.
Added teammate Kerry Weiland: “We trained really hard for a gold medal … You can’t win gold without scoring a goal.”
Despite being given a 5-on-3 advantage twice in the game, the Americans were unable to get a single puck past Canadian goalie Shannon Szabados,
Szabados was so dazzling that during an intermission between periods, an excited fan dressed in red on the concourse advocated, “The guys team should pull (Roberto) Luongo and put her in goal.”
The speed of play, precise passing and the glove work of the 23-year-old Szabados, who grew up playing against boys in the Alberta Junior Hockey League, were dazzling.
“Who would have thought 30 years ago that there would be young women playing hockey in the Olympics? If somebody was inspired to think anything’s possible by our team, then that’s what life is all about,” said Jim Craig, the goalie who made the Miracle on Ice possible in 1980.
Canada dominates
It was Canada’s 15th straight Olympic victory.
The Canadians kept nearly the entire game in the Americans’ end — outpassing, outshooting and simply outworking the only team in women’s hockey with a chance of standing up to them.
Earlier, Finland won the bronze medal, beating Sweden 3-2 in overtime. The victory gave the Finns their first medal in women’s hockey.
Jessie Vetter made 27 saves for the Americans, whose offense evaporated in front of Szabados and the Canadian defense. The potent power play that produced 13 goals in the last four games went 0-for-6, and the Canadians consistently won most of the battles in a physical, grinding game.
Canada outscored its opponents 46-2 in Vancouver, starting with an 18-0 rout of Slovakia. The Americans had a 40-2 advantage, with neither team winning by fewer than five goals. — The Associated Press
