Canada Tops US for Gold on Shoulders of Szabados' Shutout

On the list of heroic goaltending performances at these Olympics, put Shannon Szabados at the top. The 23-year-old goalie led Canada to a 2-0 victory over the U.S. on Wednesday and the gold medal in the women's hockey tournament.

Szabados (pronounced ZA-ba-da) stopped all 28 shots she faced and was particularly brilliant in a 14-save second period. The Edmonton-born netminder made saves in traffic, on one-on-ones and several with great flair -- including a flashy glove save on Monique Lamoreaux five minutes into the third period.

Head coach Melody Davidson had a tough decision between Szabados and veteran Kim St. Pierre, but decided to go with the player widely considered to be Team Canada's goalie of the future. The youngster proved her coach was right to have so much faith in her.

The star performance by Szabados, a goalie for a men's college team in Alberta, was not the only one for Canada. Marie-Philip Poulin-Nadeau -- compared to Sidney Crosby by some followers, merely "the future of Team Canada" by others -- scored both of Canada's goals.

Poulin, who turns 19 years old next month, opened the scoring with six minutes left in the first period. With the U.S. caught on a long shift, Canadian wing Jennifer Botterill slid a perfect pass to Poulin for the one-timer past goalie Jesse Vetter.

Three minutes later, Poulin scored again moments after Canada killed a U.S. power play. Poulin won a faceoff deep in the offensive zone to Meghan Agosta. With the U.S. put of position, Agosta passed the puck back to the Poulin for a shot that beat Vetter glove-side from eight feet out.

In the third period, Canada's play was so complete in all zones that the U.S. could not control the puck long enough in the final minutes to pull their goalie for an extra attacker. Vetter made 27 saves and was outstanding in the loss.

"We're disappointed," said U.S. forward Natalie Darwitz. "We played hard, but we just didn't execute. We have a young team, and at times I thought we played that way. We had greater expectations. It sucks to win silver."

The game was played before a raucous capacity crowd at Canada Hockey Place that included Wayne Gretzky, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and members of the U.S. and Canada men's teams.

The U.S. has won the last two World Championships but has not won gold at the Olympics since 1998, earning the sliver in 2002 and 2010 and bronze in 2006. For Canada, which beat Team USA in the final in Salt Lake City in 2002, this is their third consecutive gold medal.