A capacity crowd at Sarnia's Progressive Auto Sales Arena witnessed a thrilling late game comeback as Team Canada edged the rival Americans 3-2 in overtime Monday night.
Marie-Philip Poulin fired home the winning goal 52 seconds into the 3-on-3 overtime period after Jennifer Wakefield had brought the crowd to its feet with the tying goal with just 24 seconds left on the clock. Wakefield's one-timer got through U.S. goaltender Nicole Hensley with Canadian netminder Shannon Szabados on the bench for the extra attacker.
The Americans had carried the play for much of the first two periods and led 2-1 heading into the third. They outshot Canada 25-20. Canada took a 1-0 lead in the first period on Rebecca Johnston's goal but the U.S. replied with goals by Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson late in the opening period and Hilary Knight in the second.
With the win, Canada swept the two game exhibition series billed as a tune-up for next year's Women's World Hockey Championship to be held in Plymouth, Michigan. Canada won 5-3 in Plymouth Saturday.
Poulin, the Canadian captain, is pleased how the team came together during the December series.
“It’s always a big rivalry, there’s a lot of passion out there and it was really great," he says. "It was a new team all together and it was really great to get wins back to back."