The United States punched their ticket into the Four Nations Cup final…at the expense of the host nation Canada Wednesday.
The rebound of Brianna Decker’s shot bounced off Sydney Brodt’s body and into the Canadian net for the winning goal with 1:38 remaining in the third period, giving the Americans a 2-1 victory at SaskTel Centre.
“I didn’t think we lost the game on the last goal, we lost the game on the first goal,” explained Team Canada head coach Perry Pearn. “We knew we had to have a good start…we talked about having a good first five minutes…and we didn’t.”
The U-S scored just 78 seconds into the game as Hannah Brandt banged home a rebound. It took until three-and-a-half minutes into the third period for Canada to respond with Loren Gabel pulling the trigger…setting the stage for Brodt’s winner.
The tournament has Thursday off with Canada playing Finland Friday night with the winner advancing to play the U-S in the Saturday final.