Canada women’s hockey team poised to reverse-sweep U.S. after shutout in Regina

Canada’s women’s hockey team is poised to reverse-sweep the United States after tying the 2023-24 Rivalry Series at three games apiece, winning 3-0 Friday night in Regina.

Canada’s uncanny ability to claw its way back into a series is noteworthy. Last year, the squad was down 3-0 before rattling off four straight to rip victory away from the U.S.

That instalment of the women’s hockey classic ended with the Canadians dominating the decisive seventh game, winning 5-0 off the back of an Ann-Renée Desbiens shutout in her home province of Quebec.

This time, PWHL Ottawa’s Emerance Maschmeyer shut the door for Canada. The Bruderheim, Alta., native, stopped all 27 shots she faced and routinely made the Americans look skyward en route to the shutout at the Brandt Centre.

The first period saw both teams combine for just eight total shots, leaving the goaltenders — Maschmeyer and Aerin Frankel — relatively untested.

The tempo picked up in the second, with each team picking up at least eight shots and the U.S. reaching 15. However, both netminders stood tall.

Megan Keller took a body-checking penalty 32 seconds into the final frame, sending Canada to the power play.

On the ensuing opportunity, captain Marie-Philip Poulin sent a crisp pass to a streaking Natalie Spooner. Spooner barrelled toward the net, and the PWHL’s leading goal scorer roofed it past Frankel, giving Canada the lead and sending fans in Regina to their feet under a minute into the third stanza.

Canada blanks U.S. in Regina for 3rd straight Rivalry Series victory

Saskatoon native Emily Clark scores a goal in her home province of Saskatchewan as Canada defeats the United States 3-0 to tie the Rivalry Series at 3-3. The seventh and deciding game will be played in St. Paul, Minn., on Sunday.

“I saw her, and I saw that she saw me, but I saw two sticks in the way and the way that she sauced it right over those two sticks, it was it was beautiful,” Spooner said. “She’s the best player in the world and she can pull plays out of nowhere and that’s kind of what she did. She got the puck and made stuff happen.”

Emily Clark and Sarah Nurse added insurance with goals of their own later in the period as Canada cruised to a 3-0 win. Maschmeyer picked up her first win and shutout of the Rivalry Series.

“We have a very special group, staff down to players and I think being able to lean on past experience is huge for us and our confidence,” Clark said. “Obviously, rosters are different, but there’s definitely a core group and core experience that you can lean on and just a belief that this group has done it before.”

Game 7 of the series is set for Sunday at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn. Taylor Heise, Grace Zumwinkle, Maggie Flaherty and more Minnesota-born players will look to stifle Canada’s series comeback on home ice.

“Tonight, just wasn’t our night,” U.S. coach John Wroblewski said. “Canada kept pushing and was eventually rewarded in the third. We’re going to regroup and be ready for Game 7 on Sunday.”

Meanwhile, Team Canada, backed by Poulin, Maschmeyer and Spooner, has the momentum and aims to claim its fourth straight victory.