USA wins world championships vs. Canada on Hilary Knight hat trick
There couldn’t have been a extra poetic method for Hilary Knight to attain her a hundredth level for Workforce USA.
The hat trick helped, too.
With lower than 4 minutes remaining within the last of the 2023 girls’s world championship in opposition to rival Canada, Knight reared a slap shot from the highest of the slot that snuck previous netminder Ann-Renée Desbiens. The objective moved the U.S. girls’s hockey workforce forward of Canada for the primary time, and the People poured in two extra targets over the ultimate 3:10 to win gold 6-3 in Brampton, Ontario, their first main match (world championships or Olympics) victory since 2019.
The U.S. tied the sport on three events with out taking the lead, till Knight’s clutch objective that got here with a two-skater benefit. She earned her hat trick 27 seconds later with the U.S. on the facility play, and Cayla Barnes added an empty netter with 1:58 remaining.
For Knight, it was her third game-winner in a girls’s world championship contest (2011, 2017).
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For the U.S., the victory offered revenge over Canada, which had gained the final three world championships courting to 2021 and gained gold on the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, defeating the U.S. in that last. There wasn’t a world championships in 2020 as a result of COVID-19 pandemic.
Caroline Harvey, the youngest participant on the 2022 Olympic squad, equalized the sport at three within the third interval by creeping from the left level to the slot and firing in a wrister. It was Harvey’s fourth objective of the match, through which she led all skaters with 14 factors whole, one forward of Finland’s Petra Nieminen. Knight completed tied for third with teammate Taylor Heise (12 factors apiece).
Harvey, who was basically being benched for the medal rounds in Beijing, topped all U.S. skaters in ice time on Sunday (23:35).
The preliminary matchup between the 2 groups within the first spherical went to a shootout that took 9 rounds to resolve a winner, with Canada besting the U.S.
A equally even matchup ensued within the last, with Canada taking the lead on a 5-on-3 objective by Marie-Philip Poulin. Abbey Murphy drew the U.S. even with a drag transfer on a quick break that beat Desbiens (16 saves).
U.S. goaltender Aerin Frankel saved 24 pictures on 27 makes an attempt.
Knight completed with seven pictures on objective in 21:21 ice time. Amanda Kessel (two assists) offered the nifty feed for Knight to attain her first objective of the sport between a pair of second-period tallies for Canadian ahead Brianne Jenner, who gave Canada 2-1 and 3-2 leads, respectively.
The U.S. led when the ultimate horn blew, nonetheless, ending the championships with 43 whole targets and a shiny new championship.
Observe Chris Bumbaca on Twitter @BOOMbaca.
