The United States women’s hockey team knocked off Finland 5-0 in the Olympic semifinals to move into the Gold Medal game against rival Canada on Wednesday night. Canada advanced to the finale by beating the Olympic Athletes from Russia 5-0.
Ten women on the U.S. team played on the Sochi Olympic team that lost to Canada 3-2 in overtime. The U.S. had a 2-0 lead with under four minutes left in regulation, but the Canadians rallied to tie and force the overtime.
Dani Cameranesi scored a pair of goals for the U.S., giving her a team-high three in these Olympics. Goaltender Maddie Rooney, making her fourth career Olympic start, pitched her second shutout. The Americans outshot Finland 38-14.
The Americans have lost three of the last four gold-medal games. Their only win came in 1998, over Canada.
The Canadians are riding a 25-match Olympic-winning streak, having not lost since that gold-medal game against the U.S. in 1998.
Canada also pulled out a 2-1 win over the Americans in this tournament, despite being outshot and outplayed. Will the Americans finally end the drought? It’s what they’ve been working towards for the last four years. We’ll see if that work will pay off.