Jennifer Gardiner scored the game winning goal and series clinching goal for Canada at the 2024-25 Rivalry Series. It was her first ever senior national team goal, and a night she'll never forget.
Jennifer Gardiner scored the game winning goal and series clinching goal for Canada at the 2024-25 Rivalry Series. It was her first ever senior national team goal, and a night she'll never forget.
It took until the final minutes of the 2024-25 Rivalry Series to decide a winner. The goal that secured Canada's fourth straight series win came off the stick of British Columbia's Jennifer Gardiner. It was Gardiner's first ever senior national team goal, making it a night she'll never forget.
“It is pretty incredible; just to put the jersey on is a huge honour, but to get on the scoreboard just felt like one of the most incredible feelings," Gardiner said. "I couldn’t even explain it really—it felt like I blacked out for a second. The whole sequence of events, doing it on home soil in Canada and with the group we have in the locker room is incredible. With all the love and support from the staff and players, it has been a night I’ll never forget, that’s for sure."
Gardiner entered the series on a high playing alongside Marie-Philip Poulin on the Montreal Victoire's top line. The Victoire sit firmly in first overall in the PWHL's standings.
Her deciding goal came with 6:46 remaining in the third period of a fifth and deciding game in the Rivalry Series.
“I think we strung together a couple of great shifts from all our lines on the bench, talking about our forecheck and being relentless against the U.S.," Gardiner said. "I think that started from early in the third period and then Renata [Fast] made a great pass to me in the slot. Ratty [Jamie Lee Rattray] had an unreal flash screen; because of those two efforts I was able to get the goal. I said to Ratty, without that screen there’s no way that’s going in."
And without Gardiner's goal, there's no way Canada claims another victory. Gardiner was the last cut from Canada's World Championships roster last season, but looks like she may have secured her spot in Czechia for the 2025 Worlds.