A certain unease accompanied the ceremonial presentation of the medals, since the president of Hockey Canada, Scott Smith, participated.
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Recall that many – including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau – have called for Smith’s resignation and real changes to the organization’s board of directors.
Hockey Canada has been in hot water since an alleged gang rape committed by Junior Team Canada players in 2018 surfaced in the media. The federation then used an emergency fund to buy the silence of the victim.
Since then, another story of sexual misconduct, this time in 2003, has come to light.
The Canadians got their revenge in the best possible way against the Americans at the Women’s World Hockey Championship on Sunday in Herning, Denmark. Defeated 5 to 2 by their eternal rivals in the preliminary round, the representatives of the maple leaf triumphed 2 to 1 in the final.
The members of the country with the maple leaf thus defend their title brilliantly, they who had also triumphed in 2021, in Calgary … in front of empty stands.
“I’ll never get tired of singing our national anthem, the gold medal around the neck,” forward Sarah Nurse slipped to the IIHF website.
“But this year it’s especially special because our families are here. The last few years have been difficult, so the fact that our families are in Denmark and can celebrate with us is the icing on the cake.”
In a defensive duel, Brianne Jenner shone in attack for the winners. With two goals in the space of 83 seconds, she greatly helped hers to get their hands on gold.
Shortly before the halfway point of the midfielder, the striker surprised goalkeeper Nicole Hensley with a shot from a tight angle. Less than two minutes later, Jenner added with the advantage of a skater. His sharp shot then gave Hensley no chance.
“I saw that there was a lot of traffic and that part of the net was open, said the author of the winning goal. It all happened in a fraction of a second.”
The only response from the Americans came from Abby Roque’s stick. The latter got the better of Ann-Renée Desbiens with only 21 seconds left in the second period.
Desbiens, however, recovered in the third period and multiplied the spectacular saves to prevent the Americans from tying the score. She completed her match with 20 saves.
The winners, on the other hand, only tested Hensley 19 times, but still had the best.
The American captain, Kendall Coyne Schofield, had only good words for her teammates after the meeting.
“I think we played a whole game and we ran out of time at the end,” she said. This is not the result we deserved. We have a lot to be proud of, a lot to learn and a lot to build on for the future.”