U.S. tops Canada in OT to win women’s hockey worlds title

CESKE BUDEJOVICE, Czech Republic — Tessa Janecke scored in overtime as the United States prevailed over defending champion Canada 4-3 to win the women’s ice hockey world championship Sunday.

Janecke struck with 2:54 left in overtime for the Americans to claim their 11th title at the worlds. Taylor Heise set up the winning goal.

With Sarah Fillier going to the bench, Canadian defenseman Jocelyne Larocque was pressured behind the net and sent a pass up the boards, with Heise intercepting the pass at the right point inside the blue line and feeding Janecke to score into the open left side of the net.

Janecke immediately celebrated her third goal of the tournament by throwing her stick into the stands.

Abbey Murphy and Heise each scored a goal and had an assist, and Caroline Harvey also scored for the United States.

“Shock and awe,” U.S. goalie Gwyneth Philips said after the drama. “I’m ecstatic.”

Canada still leads the world tournament with 13 gold medals. The cross-border rivals have met in the championship game in all but one tournament, in 2019, when host Finland defeated Canada in the semifinal before losing to the U.S. squad.

The U.S. cruised through the tournament, winning the preliminary group with victories in all four games, including a 2-1 win over Canada. The Americans then eliminated Germany in the quarterfinals and Czech Republic in the semifinals at the 12-day, 10-nation tournament.

In the last major international test before the Milan Winter Games in February, the U.S. has now won two of the past three world championships, though Canada is the defending Olympic champion.

Danielle Serdachny, Jennifer Gardiner and Fillier scored for Canada, which outshot the U.S. 47-30.

U.S. captain Hilary Knight recorded an assist to increase her record at the worlds to 53. She is the all-time scoring leader with 120 points. In her 15th world championship appearance, she won a record 10th gold medal.

Canada captain Marie-Philip Poulin had an assist to top the scoring table at the tournament with 12 points (four goals, eight assists).

In a classic encounter between the two archrivals, Fillier tied the game for Canada at 3-3 with 5:48 remaining, forcing overtime.

Heise had restored a 3-2 lead for the Americans 5:27 into the final period with a wrist shot into the top-left corner of the net on a 5-on-3 power play.

U.S. goaltender Aerin Frankel had to be replaced by Philips 4:35 into the final period after a crash with Laura Stacey, who received a penalty for charging, giving the Americans the 5-on-3 advantage.