USA Women's Hockey

STOCKHOLM - Paced by a four-point effort from Hannah Brandt (Vadnais Heights, Minn.), the U.S. Women's National Under-18 Team captured the gold medal at the 2011 International Ice Hockey Federation World Women's U18 Championship with a 5-2 win over Canada here tonight at Stora Mossen Arena. Team USA finished the tournament undefeated with a 5-0-0-0 record to claim its third world title in four years.

The U.S. went up 3-0 midway through the second period, then held a 4-2 advantage heading into the third frame before tallying an empty netter in the final minute to seal the world-championship victory. The Americans outshot the Canadians by a 30-16 count.

"I'm really impressed with how our team came out of the gates," said Jodi McKenna, head coach for Team USA. "We played consistently well throughout the game - youthful energy, combined with poise and maturity allowed us to control the majority of the game."

Team USA converted on both of its power-play opportunities in the opening period to jump out to a 2-0 lead.

After Canada's Laura Stacey was whistled for cross checking at 6:22, Alex Carpenter (North Reading, Mass.) netted her sixth goal of the tournament when she stickhandled through traffic and beat Canadian netminder Ann-Renee Desbiens at 6:56. Nearing the end of Team USA's second power play, Hannah Brandt (Vadnais Heights, Minn.) skated in from the corner and put a shot over Desbiens stick from the slot at 15:39 for a 2-0 U.S. advantage.

In the action-packed second period, the teams traded a pair of goals each to make the score 4-2 in favor of the U.S.

Layla Marvin (Warroad, Minn.) put one in from close range on the left side of the Canadian net at 12:27 before Canada broke onto the scoreboard at 15:07. Just :22 later, the Americans retaliated with an Amanda Pelkey (Montpelier, Vt.) rebound goal to regain their three-goal advantage, however, Canada closed out the frame with a second goal at 17:33.

Team USA fought hard to maintain its two-goal lead throughout the third period, staving off an urgent Canadian team. Milicia McMillen (St. Paul, Minn.) added an empty-net goal at 19:25 to account for the 5-2 final score.

Megan Miller (Long Grove, Ill.) made 14 saves in the winning effort, while Desbiens stopped 25 for Canada.

NOTES: Team USA was 2-for-3 on the power play, while Canada was 0-for-1 ... Alex Carpenter was named the tournament's top forward and Milicia McMillen was named the top defenseman ... Hannah Brandt, Carpenter and Michelle Picard (Taunton, Mass.) were named Team USA's top-three players of the tournament ... Carpenter led the tournament with 10 points (6-4), while Brandt was second with five goals and five assists,Amanda Pelkey was third with four goals and six assists and Emily Field (Littleton, Mass.) was fourth with nine points (4-5) ... The eight-nation tournament, played for the fourth time, included Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Japan, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States ... Team USA captured gold in each of the first two years of the tournament (2008, 2009), followed by a silver medal in 2010 ... Jodi McKenna, the head women's ice hockey coach at Wesleyan Univeristy, served as head coach for Team USA. She was assisted by Brian Durocher, head women's ice hockey coach at Boston University, and Jennifer Kranz, assistant women's ice hockey coach at St. Cloud State University.

GAME SUMMARY

Scoring By Period

USA 2 2 1 -- 5
CAN 0 2 0 -- 2

First Period - Scoring: 1, USA, Carpenter (Savage), 6:56 (pp); 2, USA, Brandt (Field, Pelkey), 15:39 (pp). Penalties: CAN, Stacey (cross checking), 6:22; CAN, MacDonnell (hooking), 13:44; USA, McMillen (roughing), 17:51.

Second Period - Scoring: 3, USA, Marvin (Brandt, Sylvester), 12:27; 4, CAN, Fulton (Mercer, Kohler), 15:07; 5, USA, Pelkey (Brandt), 15:29; 6, CAN, Josephs (Zgraja, Kosta), 17:33. Penalties: CAN, Zgraja (roughing), 2:57.

Third Period - Scoring: 7, USA, McMillen (Picard, Brandt), 19:25 (en). Penalties: None.

Shots by Period 1 2 3 Total
USA 9 15 6 30
CAN 5 4 7 16
         
Goaltenders (SH/SV) 1 2 3 Total
USA, Miller, 60:00 5-5 4-2 7-7 16-14
CAN, Desbiens, 60:00 9-7 15-13 5-5 29-25

Power Play: USA 2-3; CAN 0-1
Penalties: USA 1-2; CAN 3-6
Officials: Referee-Debbie Hengst (NED); Linesmen-Therese Bjorkman (SWE), Jonna Partanen (FIN)