USA Women's Hockey

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - Hilary Knight (Sun Valley, Idaho) scored the winning goal in a shootout to propel the U.S. Women's Select Team to a 3-2 win over Canada in the opening game of the 2010 Women's Four Nations Cup for both teams here tonight at Mile One Centre. Jessie Vetter (Cottage Grove, Wis.) stopped all three shooters and made 32 saves in net for the victory.

The U.S. scored in the opening seconds of the game for a 1-0 lead that held through the first period. Canada scored a pair of power-play markers and the Americans added a tally in the second frame for a 2-2 score that remained until the end of overtime before Team USA clinched the win in a shootout.

"It was a good start for us," said Katey Stone, head coach for Team USA. "We have a lot to build on from here. We exposed our weaknesses and our strong goaltending kept us in the game. We got better as the game went on and put ourselves in a position to win - there are good things to come."

Team USA got on the board just :11 into the contest when Jocelyne Lamoureux (Grand Forks, N.D.) dumped the puck into the Canadian zone, it bounced off the end boards and found Jenny Potter (Edina, Minn.) in front of the net. Potter knocked it into the open net while Canadian netminder Shannon Szabados was out of the goal intending to play the puck.

Despite an early Canadian power-play opportunity and back-to-back American man-advantage chances late in the frame, the score remained 1-0 at the end of the period.

In the second period, Canada scored on the power play at the 2:07 mark to tie the score at 1-1 before Meghan Duggan (Danvers, Mass.) deflected a Caitlin Cahow (Branford, Conn.) shot past Szabados to put the U.S. back up by a goal at 10:18. Just over two minutes later, Canada again converted on a power play, this time with Meaghan Mikkelson putting a wrister in the near side of the net from the left faceoff circle at 12:36.

The teams played to a draw in the third period, each killing off one penalty while Canada held a slight edge in shots, 11-10.

In the five minute 4-on-4 overtime session, Vetter stopped both of Canada's shots to send the game to a shootout, where Knight was the lone scorer for either team to secure the tournament-opening victory.

The game was the first time the U.S. and Canada played each other since the gold-medal match at the 2010 Olympics. In that game, which featured the same two goaltenders, Canada posted a 2-0 win. The U.S. victory over Canada was the first in the last seven games between the two teams.

NOTES: Canada held a 34-26 advantage in shots ... Jessie Vetter was named U.S. Player of the Game ... The U.S. was 0-for-5 on the power play, while Canada was 2-for-6.

GAME SUMMARY

Scoring By Period

First Period - Scoring: 1, USA, Potter (Lamoureux), :11. Penalties: USA, Cahow (holding), 1:01; CAN, Agosta (tripping), 11:50; CAN, Mikkelson (roughing), 13:54.

Second Period - Scoring: 2, CAN, Poulin (Bonhomme), 2:07 (pp); 3, USA, Duggan (Cahow), 10:18; 4, CAN, Mikkelson (Larocque, Irwin), 12:36 (pp). Penalties: USA, Potter (hooking), :51; CAN, Slusar (tripping), 3:41; USA, Bellamy (roughing), 6:45; USA, Cahow (cross checking), 10:45; CAN, Piper (interference), 16:23; USA, Lamoureux-Kolls (slashing), 16:41.

Third Period - Scoring: None. Penalties: CAN, Wickenheiser (cross checking), 1:42; USA, Lamoureux-Kolls (body checking), 11:08.

Overtime - Scoring: None. Penalties: None.

GWS - CAN, Poulin (no goal); USA, Knight (goal); CAN, Agosta (no goal); USA, Duggan (no goal); CAN, Wakefield (no goal).

Power Play: USA 0-5; CAN 2-6
Penalties: USA 6-12; CAN 5-10
Officials: Referee-Sylena Mutsaers; Linesmen-Haley Wieler, Lacey Senuk