Team USA wins IIHF Women’s World Championship in Sweden

By @MichaelCaples –

Team USA picked up their second straight IIHF Women’s World Championship Saturday in Malmo, Sweden, when they beat rival Canada 7-5 in the title game.

After surging out to a 3-0 lead early, Canada clawed back, before the Americans broke open a 5-5 tie game in the third period with crucial goals from Brianna Decker and Kendall Coyne.

“I’m really proud of our team, they battled hard through some adversity and competed until the very end,” said Ken Klee, head coach of the U.S. Women’s National Team, via a USA Hockey release. “It was an exciting game for the fans and extremely fun to be apart of.”

It was Team USA’s second win over Canada in the tournament – the Americans prevailed over their main rival 4-2 on March 28 to kick off the tournament.

Team USA finished with a perfect 5-0 record in Sweden, with a 4-1 win over Finland, a 9-2 win over Russia, and then a dominating 13-1 win over Russia again in the semifinals.

Megan Keller was the lone Michigan representative on the Team USA roster, and she scored the third of three first-period goals in the championship game. Keller, a Farmington native and Boston College freshman defenseman, recorded two goals and three assists in the tournament, with an impressive +6 on the plus/minus chart. She finished third amongst all defensemen in scoring.