Competing half a world away in China, Sarah Parsons ‘10 and her teammates on the United States women’s hockey team defeated Canada to win the gold medal at the 2008 International Ice Hockey Association women’s world championships. Team USA withstood a withering Canadian third period rally and three penalties in the last ten minutes of the game to win the world title.
The tournament took place in Harbin, which, with just under 10 million residents, is the largest city in Northeast China and the tenth largest Chinese city. Located on the Songhua River in Heilongjiang Province, Harbin lies roughly 650 miles northeast of Beijing, the site of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games.
The IIHF decided to hold the 2008 World Women’s Championship in China after the 2003 contest that was supposed to be held in China was cancelled over fears of a SARS outbreak.
Although she was busy with hockey and did not spend much time touring the country, Parsons did echoes some of the environmental concerns that have been cast against the Chinese in their preparations for this summer’s Olympics.
“I thought it was really dirty, but I never left the hotel so I don’t really know,” she said.
The world championship game saw four current and former Dartmouth women’s ice hockey team members competing for the American and Canadian national teams. Representing Dartmouth on Team USA was Parsons, who faced off against former teammates Gillian Apps ‘06, Cherie Piper ‘06 and Katie Weatherston ‘06, all of Canada.
This is not the first time the Big Green teammates have played one another on the international stage. In 2006, the dynamic Canadian trio earned a gold medal by besting Parsons and Team USA, 4-1, at the Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy.
The three Big Green women’s hockey alumni currently play professional women’s hockey, with all three former Dartmouth standouts competing in the Canandian Women’s Hockey League. Former Dartmouth team captain Apps plays for the Brampton Canadette-Thunder, Weatherston competes for the Montreal Stars and Piper skates for the Mississauga Chiefs.
Parsons enjoyed lining up against her old Big Green teammates on the international level.
“It was really fun playing against them and to see my old teammates,” she said. “I like to joke around and talk on the ice a little bit more than they do, but it was really fun to play hockey with them and to see them again.”
The current and former Dartmouth players left a distinct impression at the tournament. Piper finished as one of the tournament’s leading scorers with eight points coming from two goals and six assists. Parsons finished with four points, scoring one goal and dishing out three assists.
Parsons also had five penalties in the tournament, and now ranks sixth on the USA all-time list for penalties in a single tournament.
In the championship game at the Baqu Arena, the Canadians scored first, with Sarah Vaillancourt putting the puck in net less than two minutes into the game on a four-on-four. During the regular season Vaillancourt stars for the Harvard Crimson, the Dartmouth women’s hockey team’s biggest rival in the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference.
The Americans responded with two goals before the end of the first period. On a power play, Jenny Potter tied the game at one each at 8:09 into the game. Later in the game, Team USA captain Natalie Darwitz made it 2-1 at 17:41 when she scored on a coast-to-coast solo performance.
The Americans kept up the pressure on Canada in the second period. Taking advantage of the 5-on-3, Potter tipped in a shot from teammate Angela Ruggiero at 10:54.
Darwitz then tallied her second goal of the night, smashing home a point at 18:41, to give the red, white and blue a solid 4-1 lead. The puck actually went out the back of the net, and only after video review did the officials on the ice call it a goal.
However, Canada was far from ready to concede the gold medal to the Americans, as a pair of third period goals made it into a one-goal game. Weatherston tallied her second goal of the tournament at 8:38 in the third period, scoring during another four-on-four situation.
Only a minute and ten seconds later, Canada finished the game 4-3 on a power play goal from Jennifer Botterill.
The last ten minutes of the game were a nail-biter for the Americans. Up only one goal with ten minutes standing between them and a world title, the American women desperately held off the Canadians. The three penalties called against Team USA in the last ten minutes only made the task more difficult.
Team USA was up to the charge,however, killing the Canadians’ three power play opportunities and denying them a chance to tie the game.
The American skaters allowed the Canadians only one power play goal in 11 opportunities. The Canadians allowed two American goals in 13 power play situations. While neither team was particularly successful on power plays, the additional power play goal proved to be the difference.
Overall, the gold medal game was marred by a total of twenty-four penalties and forty-eight total penalty minutes. The two teams rarely faced each other at full strength, as penalty whistles repeatedly interrupted the flow of the game. For the Dartmouth players, Apps spent four minutes in the box, while Parsons served two minutes in the sin bin for tripping in the second stanza.
“The officiating was awful,” Parsons said. “Not just us, but for both teams actually. They called way too many penalties. We also had some communications problems with the refs, who came from some international programs. We sometimes couldn’t really understand what they were telling us, and they couldn’t understand right if a coach was yelling at them.”
The gold medal for Team USA was its second in the last three world championships.
In the tournament’s earlier stages, the U.S. had shown hints of its dominance. Team USA embarrassed Germany with an 8-1 victory in the opening game, and then a few days later overpowered Switzerland, 7-1. With the two victories, the women in blue won their group and advanced to the qualifying round.
Unfortunately, any momentum the American women may have built up in their two crushing victories over the Germans and the Swiss did not translate into the next round. In a historic loss, Team USA fell to Finland, 1-0, in overtime.
Following the end of regulation, with neither team having scored, the game went into sudden death over-time. During a delayed penalty call on one of the American players, there was an additional call for too many skaters on the ice. The double penalty gave the Finns a much needed five-on-three advantage, and Finland capitalized on the opportunity. Heidi Peltarri sent in a slap shot past the American goalie 3:42 in overtime to upset the Americans.
This marked the first time the Americans had ever to lost to the underdog Finns in 10 meetings between the two teams. In fact, in previous meetings Team USA had outscored Finland by 43-16.
Parsons attributed the loss to the play of the Finnish goalkeeper.
“That’s the first time we have ever lost to them,” she said. “We outshot them, but their goalie was great and played really well, and we couldn’t get anything past her.”
Following the loss to Finland, American hopes of advancing to the gold medal game were dimmed yet not entirely out of reach. The two remaining qualifying games would see Finland playing Canada, and then Canada taking on Team USA to decide which two of the three teams would be denied a shot at the gold medal.
In an interesting twist of fate, the Canadians would be instrumental in deciding whether the Americans would advance to the title game.
Ranked No. 1 in the world, Team Canada had coasted through the preliminary rounds. Opening against Russia, Canada ran away with an 8-1 victory. The next game saw them paste the host Chinese 11-0. This set the stage for the showdown in the qualifying rounds between the USA, Canada, and Finland.
If Canada beat Finland in regulation by any score, Team USA could advance to play Canada. Were Canada to beat Finland in overtime however, then the goal differentials would come into play and the Americans would have to beat Canada by at least a certain number of goals. Finally, if Canada lost to Finland, then the Canadians and Americans would have to play for the final spot in the title game.
As a result, Team USA’s gold medal dreams would require them to beat Canada two games in a row. In the end, that was exactly what happened.
Following the Canadian 4-2 victory over the upstart Finns, the stage was set for the first of two clashes on the ice between the two neighbors.
Canada set up a slim 2-1 lead over the USA after the first stanza behind goals from Jayna Hefford and Kelly Bechard. Natalie Darwitz tallied the opening salvo for the Americans, scoring on a power play opportunity.
Six minutes into the second period, Caitlin Cahow tied up the score at two on another power play goal. From there Team USA never looked back as they left their neighbors from the north behind.
Meghan Duggan scored the go-ahead goal at 8:24 in the third period. Darwitz sealed the deal with 24 seconds left in regulation, scoring on an empty netter to make the final score 4-2 and to set up the gold medal rematch.
Going into the final game, the United States and Canada had played thirteen times in IIHF World Women’s Championship tournament competition, with the Canadians holding a 7-3-1-2 advantage over the Americans. The title game also marked the 77th meeting overall between the two teams, with Team USA holding a 29-46-1 record against the hockey powerhouse from the still North.
However, that history did not faze the Americans going into the gold medal game. The young squad, with an average age of only 22.5 years old, drew on the experiences of a core group of veterans. Seven players on the team, including Parsons, had competed at the Winter Olympic Games at least once in their careers. Two, Jenny Potter and Angela Ruggiero, had competed in three each.
Parsons was excited about the opportunity to play the Canadians.
“It happens pretty often. Canada and America are the two best teams, and so we usually can play in the semis and then in the finals again. But they are our biggest rival, and so getting to play them was great.”
In the bronze medal game, Finland faced off against Switzerland, with the Finns emerging victorious 4-1. The hosts, China, were 1-3 in tournament play losing to Russia 3-5, losing to Canada 0-11, and losing to Japan 1-3. The only victory for the Chinese came against the hapless German squad, whom the Chinese beat 4-2.
Despite the second place finish, Canada remains No. 1 in the 2008 IIHF rankings, followed by the U.S. After its strong showing in the IIHF Women’s World Championship, Finland is now ranked No. 3 in the world, having overtaken Sweden in the rankings, while Switzerland and Russia round out the top six. The first six teams in the IIHF World Ranking automatically qualify for the eight-team women’s Olympic tournament in 2010.
Team USA returns to action November 4-12 when it battles for the Four Nations Cup in Leksand, Sweden. The 2010 Winter Olympic Games will by hosted by Vancouver, when Team Canada and Apps, Piper, and Weatherston look to defend their Olympic gold medal from the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, Italy.
