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CANADA GETS SILVER AT 2020 IIHF U18 WOMEN’S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

Team Canada falls in overtime to United States in gold medal game

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia, January 3, 2020 – Despite a hard-fought 77-minute battle, Canada’s National Under-18 Women’s Team fell 2-1 in overtime to the United States in the gold medal game Thursday at the 2020 IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship.

The game (and tournament) was unavailable on a major TV network but millions in North America were still able to find a way stream it with over 11 million Canadians and Americans watching online without commentary. Both TSN and Sportsnet have been called out on social media by fans of women’s hockey.

TSN: Broadcast of U18 women’s junior hockey – Sign the Petition! https://t.co/WUqMmv1JWU via @CdnChange— Cassidy Hilworth (@CASSa_DILLa) January 5, 2020

Cassidy Hilworth @CASSa_DILLa took to Twitter to express disappointment that the Women’s U18 Final wasn’t being broadcast and create a petition on change.org to send to TSN.

10.6 thousand people just watched team USA win gold at the #U18WWC

No commentary.
Bad lighting.
Mediocre camera work.
Nobody cared.

Nobody cared because people want to watch women’s hockey and I’m not going to shut up about it. https://t.co/YmCqSp11wZ— alyssa (@alyssaturnz) January 2, 2020

A USA fan, Alyssa Turner also took to Twitter to express her opinion about the lack of coverage for the Women’s U18 World Championship.

It is the eighth time Canada has finished with a silver medal at U18 women’s worlds (2008, 2009, 2011, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2020). It has also won five gold (2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2019) and one bronze (2018).

Sarah Paul (West Kelowna, B.C./Pursuit of Excellence, CSSHL) had the lone tally for Canada, tying the game on a third-period power play off a feed from Ann-Frédérik Naud (Joliette, Que./John Abbott College, CEGEP).

Goaltender Ève Gascon (Terrebonne, Que./Collège Esther-Blondin, LHMAAAQ) put on another dazzling performance, making 32 saves as the Canadians were outshot 34-32.

“It’s a pretty tough loss, but it was inches and centimetres; I’m really proud of the whole team and the effort we put in to this week,” said Canadian captain Kendall Cooper (Burlington, Ont./Stoney Creek, PWHL). “I think it could have gone either way and it didn’t go our way today, but we’re going to continue to move forward and use the lessons we’ve learned over this last couple weeks and continue to improve.”

“Obviously its tough for us to leave here without the gold, but there’s a lot of really good things happening with this group,” said head coach Howie Draper (Edmonton/University of Alberta, CW). “The group really came together; they were a really tight-knit group and there was a tremendous amount of support around the dressing room. Ultimately, that was the most important thing – that we could come together and do some great things. If we did that we can’t lose, no matter what the end result.”

Ontario was well represented on Team Canada with 11 players on the squad including 3 players from the GTA: Lindsay Bochna from Toronto, Kendall Cooper from Burlington, and Tamara Giaquinto from Toronto. Also from Ontario are Grace Nelles from St. Anns, Sarah Thompson of Ottawa, Aly McLeod from Stratford, Nicole Gosling from London, Brianna Legros from Haileybury and goaltender Jessie McPherson from Chatham.

Following the game, Cooper and forward Jenna Buglioni (Port Moody, B.C./Greater Vancouver, BCFMAAA) were named to the media all-star team.

For more information on Hockey Canada and Canada’s National Women’s Under-18 Team, please visit HockeyCanada.ca, or follow along through social media on Facebook, Twitter, and Twitter.com/HC_Women.

SOURCE Hockey Canada

GAME STORY by Jessica Gowans