Women's hockey wrapped up tonight as Canada edged out the US 2-0, taking home the gold for the third time in the past four Olympics. In all the games both teams played this time around, none were closer than this 2-0 shutout that really was an intense and hard-fought game.
Marie-Philip Poulin scored both goals for Canada, although Team USA's Jessie Vetter came up big with 27 saves to keep the score close for most of the game. But the US offense just couldn't get anything past Shannon Szabados, Canada's goalkeeper, as she put in a 28-save effort for the shutout and gold medal win.
At times when Canada had the puck and entered into the US zone, it looked like they were in total control. That's not to say the US didn't make a similar effort in the other end, but Canada's defense was just impenetrable. Even on the PP, USA had some strong chances but either just shot wide of the net, watched the puck trickle around the cage or couldn't find a way to center through Canada's strong penalty kill unit.
I'm sure it's a tough loss to handle, as evidenced by the tears and defeated looks on all of the Team USA members as they lined up on the ice to receive medals, but the team has nothing to be ashamed of. They put in a good run and still took home the silver, bringing the nation's overall medal total to 31 (8 gold, 11 silver, 12 bronze).
In the bronze medal game, Finland claimed the medal in a 3-2 overtime win.