Malfunctions, reviews and marathon shootout: Canada escapes with win over U.S at hockey worlds

It was yet another timeless women's hockey finish between Canada and the U.S.

Literally — timeless.

The Canadians ultimately came away with a 4-3 shootout victory, about 45 minutes after they appeared headed to an easy win following a Laura Stacey empty-netter to put the team up 3-1 with just over two minutes remaining.

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But head coach Troy Ryan said he prepares his teams for anything.

"It's funny how it applies here, but sometimes we'll say if a scoreboard falls from the ceiling we need to act like we expected it to happen," he said. "So when those things happen you just got to be prepared and you hope you fall to the planning you did before."

Ryan's words proved prophetic.

Soon after Stacey's goal, Canada's Sarah Fillier saw a goal of her own waived off due to goalie interference. Then, American Hilary Knight scored to cut the deficit in half, only there was one problem: the scoreboard had stopped working.

Confusion ensued. Canada goalie Ann-Renée Desbiens immediately pointed at the empty, malfunctioning clock. Knight said after the game she didn't realize until after she scored.

"I was just like, 'That's not good,'" Knight said. "I don't know the protocol for this."

'We just like to keep it light'

Following a lengthy stoppage, Canada challenged for offsides. Meanwhile, the clock read one minute, 18 seconds.

During the delay, Canada stayed loose. In fact, forward Sarah Nurse said any words they exchanged were "probably nothing about hockey."

"We just like to keep it light. At that point it's completely out of our control, so what are we going to do? Sit there and argue? Sit there and complain? Sit there and whine? That's not what our group's about," she said.

After an even longer wait, the refs emerged from the video booth and signalled that the goal counted — the play was, in fact, onside. On the scoreboard, the time was changed to 39 seconds.

That was all the Americans needed. Amanda Kessel tied the game with 3.5 seconds left, stunning the CAA Centre crowd and sending the game into OT.

Despite each team receiving a power-play opportunity, the five-minute three-on-three period settled nothing.

Desbiens puts on a show on her birthday

In the shootout, Knight and Canada's Brianne Jenner each scored on their first shots. That's when the goalies took over, and no one else found the back of the net until Jamie Lee Rattray ended it for Canada in the ninth round.

Ann-Renée Desbiens, celebrating her 29th birthday, stopped eight of nine shooters, adding to her 26 saves across regulation and overtime.

American netminder Aerin Frankel stopped seven of nine shots, on top of 33 saves prior to the shootout.

Multiple teammates referred to Desbiens as a "brick wall."

"I love shootouts, so I was super excited for it, but I guess I wish we would have won earlier," Desbiens said.

That might have sparked birthday celebrations a bit sooner, though Desbiens said she was pleased with the win as a gift.

"It's definitely my favourite birthday so far. Pretty special. Obviously I had to make it interesting at the end of the third period to keep that game going. I guess I wasn't ready to go back to the hotel just yet," she said.

Canada tops Group A

Once the dust settled, Canada sealed top spot in Group A with a perfect 4-0 record. The U.S., at 3-1, placed second.

Both teams will return to the ice on Thursday for the quarterfinals, where they'll each play one of Germany, Sweden or Hungary. The semifinals go Saturday and medal games are on Sunday.

The North American rivalry will likely be renewed in the championship game. Considering the history, it wouldn't be overly surprising if that showdown proved as chaotic as Monday's.

"A lot of times it's who learns the most from that game that's gonna be successful moving forward," Ryan said of Monday's win. "So it's not about the final, it's not about playing them again. It's who's going to be most successful in the quarterfinals and semifinals moving forward."

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Canada's now won six of the past seven meetings with the U.S. at Olympics and world championships, including the past three gold medals.

The Americans' lone win was a 5-2 preliminary-round victory at the 2022 worlds.

But they came into these worlds with a team of five rookies, perhaps looking to turn a new leaf against their northern foes.

"Being in the game against that Canadian team in the end is all you can ask for," said U.S. head coach John Wroblewski. "I mean, look at them. They're loaded. They're big, they're fast, they're skilled, so I'm super proud of our girls for holding them at bay and then being able to take our swings when we can."

"Look at our team, we're so young. There's gotta be belief in that room that they can play with them and hopefully someday beat them, and hopefully that's Sunday."