Canada Defends Its Championship Title, Wins Gold at the IIHF Women's Worlds
- Post Authorby Sports director
- Post DateMon Sep 05 2022

By: Benedict Chen
After losing to the United States in the prelims, Canada came back in the gold medal game to win back-to-back Women's Worlds. It was a golden sweep for Team Canada as they had previously defeated Team USA to win gold at the 2022 Beijing Olympics as well as the 2022 U18 Women's Worlds.
In the first period, Canada was able to get on the power play after USA's Abby Roque got called for illegal hitting at 11:09. Nearly nine minutes later, Canada would head to its second power play of the period after US forward Hayley Scammura got called for boarding. Goalies Ann-Renee Desbiens and Nicole Hensley worked hard in net for their respective teams in the first 20 minutes. Both teams had scoring chances but were unable to convert. The game was scoreless after the first period with shots favoring Canada 5-2.
Halfway through the second period, Canada's Brianne Jenner fired a shot from a sharp angle on the rush to make it 1-0 Canada as well as record her 100th international point as a member of Hockey Canada's senior national team. Just over a minute later, Canada got on the power play again after a boarding call against USA's Hannah Brandt. Jenner then extended Canada's lead by scoring her second goal of the game on the power play to make it 2-0 Canada. However, with 1:37 left in the period, she would head to the penalty box for interference. With 21 seconds left, USA's Abby Roque capitalized on the opportunity by scoring a power play goal off a backhand pass from Amanda Kessel and cut Canada's lead in half.
Ann-Renee Desbiens was solid in net for Canada. After Canada went on the penalty kill for tripping, Desbiens blocked several USA shots to keep Canada in the lead. Even though Nicole Hensley was pulled for an extra attacker, the United States was unable to convert and Canada won the gold medal game 2-1.
This was Team Canada's first back-to-back Women's World Championship win since 2001 and 2004. They outshot USA 21-19 and Ann-Renee Desbiens blocked 20 shots while Nicole Hensley blocked 17.
Canada received the gold medal while USA was handed the silver. Czechia would get the bronze after they defeated Switzerland 4-2.
USA's Taylor Heise was named MVP of the tournament while best positions went to Czechia's Daniela Pejsova for best defender, Taylor Heise for best forward, and Nicole Hensley for best goalie.