Marie Philip Poulin has done it again! Few thought she could top her two goal performance in the Gold Medal Game of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, but she did it today in Sochi. With Canada trailing 2-1 late in the third period, Poulin equalized with the Canadian net Empty. Then in Overtime, she scored Women’s Hockey’s version of Sidney Crosby’s Golden Goal, ending the game on four on three powerplay for Canada with a strong wrist shot to the back of the net.
Canada’s Newest Golden Girl
Canada actually trailed the Americans by a score of 2-0 on goals by Meghan Duggan and Alex Carpenter before the comeback started. Brianne Jenner scored with just 3:36 to play, before Poulin tied it with just 55 seconds to go. Moments before Poulin’s goal, the Americans had hit the post with a long attempt at the Canadian Empty Net.
The win is the 20th straight for the Canadian Women’s Hockey Team in the Olympics, a streak that spans four games and has led to four gold medals. The last (and only) Canadian loss at the Olympics was the Gold Medal Game in Nagano where they fell 3-1 to their rivals the Americans.
However with the Americans winning four straight pre-Olympic games against the Canadians, and four of the last five World Championships, and with the turbulence in the Canadian coaching staff that saw Kevin Dineen replace Dan Church as head coach just weeks before the games, many considered the Canadians the underdogs going to Sochi.
The Gold Medal was Canada’s second on the day. Earlier, the Team Canada Women’s Curling Team led by LWOS’ favorite Olympian, Jennifer Jones scored a 6-3 win over Sweden to win gold. Jones’ rink becomes the first women’s team ever to go through an Olympic Curling Tournament undefeated.
