Tessa Janecke scored the winning goal at 17:06 of overtime as the United States notched a 4-3 victory over Canada in the women’s hockey world championship final on Sunday at Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic.
Taylor Heise set up the winning tally during the three-on-three overtime by intercepting a pass just inside the blue line and passing the puck to Janecke, who easily scored into the open left side of the net.
“I saw a turnover and went to the net, hoping to put it in,” said Janecke, who tossed her stick into the stands during a wild celebration. “There’s nothing like it. … It was just so much fun.”
The gold medal is the 11th for the U.S. at the world championships, two behind Canada’s tournament-best total.
Heise also scored a goal, sending a wrist shot into the top left corner to give the U.S. a 3-2 lead with 14:33 left in the third period.
Canada’s Sarah Fillier scored the tying goal with 5:48 left in regulation.
Caroline Harvey and Abbey Murphy also scored goals for the U.S. Starting goaltender Aerin Frankel stopped 27 of 29 shots during the first 44-plus minutes before Gwyneth Philips entered the game. She finished with 17 saves on 18 shots — including saves on all 10 shots she faced in overtime.
Danielle Serdachny and Jennifer Gardiner also had goals for Canada, which outshot the U.S. 47-30.
The world championships are the last big international event prior to the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan. Canada is the defending Olympic champion and beat the U.S. in the 2022 gold-medal game in Beijing.
–Field Level Media
