More Heartbreak for US Hockey

Canada’s Captain Clutch, Marie-Philip Poulin, delivered at the Olympics again. Poulin scored twice, including her third gold-medal clinching goal, and Canada reclaimed its place atop the women's hockey world by capping its run through the Beijing Games with a 3-2 win over the defending champion United States on Thursday, the AP reports. Ann-Renee Desbiens stopped 38 shots and Sarah Nurse had a goal and assist in a game where the Canadians built a 3-0 lead and hung on for the win. Nurse set the single tournament record with 18 points.

Just as important, Canada bounced back from a shocking 3-2 shootout gold-medal loss to the US at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games. Canada can now boast holding both the Olympic and world championship titles at the same time, and for the first time since 2012. The Americans, who have two Olympic golds, settled for their fourth silver medal, with all losses coming against Canada. In men's hockey, the US went out of the Olympics with a 3-2 quarterfinal loss to Slovakia on Wednesday. Hours later, Canada exited with a 2-0 loss to Sweden. The Russians and Finland also moved on to the first Olympic semifinals without the US and Canada since 2006.

(More 2022 Beijing Olympics stories.)