A large and enthusiastic crowd in Halifax, Nova Scotia welcomed Team Canada and Team USA for game four of the Rivalry Series. USA took the game in a shootout, and tied the series heading into a deciding game five.
A large and enthusiastic crowd in Halifax, Nova Scotia welcomed Team Canada and Team USA for game four of the Rivalry Series. USA took the game in a shootout, and tied the series heading into a deciding game five.
HALIFAX – Maritime hospitality stole the spotlight from any political hostility during Game 4 of the Rivalry Series between Canada and the U.S. in women’s hockey action Thursday night, but the lively crowd inside the Scotiabank Centre wasn’t enough to stop the Americans from stealing the game with a 2-1 win – in a shootout no less.
Forward Hilary Knight, 35, of Palo Alto, Calif., scored twice, cracking the scoreboard on a backhand shot at 8:13 in the first during a power play and added another in the shootout, while her Boston Fleet teammate Hannah Bilka, 23, of Coppell, Tex., notched the final goal of the night to even out the five-game series, prompting many Canadian fans to immediately walk out of the arena into the cold and snowy Halifax streets.
Despite the host country’s disappointment in the loss, the mostly Canadian fans that filled the 10,500-seat arena didn’t boo when the American national anthem played, despite ongoing tension since the Presidential election, and showed plenty of support throughout the game for Canada’s National Women’s Team, in particular for local forward Blayre Turnbull, 31, of Stellarton, N.S.
Turnbull scored Canada’s sole goal of the night at 17:40, in the third period to tie it up at one-apiece on assists from Renata Fast and Sarah Fillier, sending the game into a scoreless sudden death overtime and earning her player of the game honours for Canada.
“It was awesome,” Turnbull said of hearing her home province crowd, including girls’ hockey teams from across the province and about 75 family members and friends of her own, cheering when she notched that essential late game goal by picking up the puck out front and finding the five-hole.
“I was happy to tie it up, obviously,” she told a scrum of mostly female reporters after the game. “It was exciting to score and to hear the crowd’s reaction was pretty special.”
Goaltender Gwyneth Philips, 24, of Athens, Ohio, who plays for the Ottawa Charge, snagged player of the game for the United States, and stole the show between the pipes, stopping 32 of 33 shots in regulation and the extra frame.
“We were fortunate to win but we had great spirit on the bench, headlined by Hilary Knight, who gets our first goal, and then I thought just dominate goaltending there from Gwyneth Philips,” U.S. Women’s National Team Head Coach John Wroblewski of Neenah, Wis., told media after the game.
“I thought it was just an outstanding job by her,” Wroblewski said. “She was just so assertive with the way that she played.”
Veteran Canadian netminder Anne-Renee Desbiens, 30, of LaMalbaie, Que., faced less than half of that with only 15 shots on net through three periods and overtime.
Laura Stacey, 30, of Kleinburg, Ont., and Sarah Nurse, also 30, of Hamilton, Ont., of the Montreal Victoire and Toronto Sceptres, respectively, both played their 100th international games in Halifax.
The cross-border women’s hockey competition truly is one of the most intense rivalries in sports history, with this year’s Rivalry Series not unexpectedly tied at 2-2 going into the final game this Saturday, Feb. 8 in Summerside, P.E.I.
The United States hosted the first three face-offs of the series this past November in San Jose, Calif.; West Valley City, Utah; and Boise, Idaho. Canada lost 7-2 in Game 1, but came back 5-4 for Game 2 and 4-1 in Game heading into Halifax’s on-ice meeting.
The puck drops on the deciding game of the annual Rivalry Series at 7 p.m. AT / 6 p.m. ET at Credit Union Place in Summerside, P.E.I., this Saturday, Feb. 8.