UTICA, New York – Canada’s National Women’s Team needed overtime to claim its third IIHF Women’s World Championship gold medal in four years, beating the United States 6-5 in front of 4,142 fans at the Adirondack Bank Center on Sunday night.

Danielle Serdachny (Edmonton, AB/Colgate University, ECAC) was the overtime hero 6:15 into the extra frame, sweeping in a rebound in the dying seconds of a Canadian power play to clinch a 13th gold medal for Canada, extending its all-time record.

Marie-Philip Poulin (Beauceville, QC/Montreal, PWHL) scored twice, Erin Ambrose (Keswick, ON/Montreal, PWHL) added a goal and an assist and Ann-Renée Desbiens (Clermont, QC/Montreal, PWHL) made 19 saves.

Ambrose opened the scoring for Canada at the 6:32 mark of the first period, but the U.S. pulled even less than two minutes later.

The Canadians would retake the lead at 3:08 of the second period on the second goal of the tournament by Julia Gosling (London, ON/St. Lawrence University, ECAC), but this time the Americans would answer with a pair of goals before Poulin went upstairs on U.S. goaltender Aerin Frankel for an unassisted effort to make it 3-3 before the end of the middle frame.

The back-and-forth affair would continue in the final frame. After the Americans went ahead again, Emily Clark (Saskatoon, SK/Ottawa, PWHL) tied the game at 10:46, followed by Poulin just 93 seconds later to restore the Canadian lead, but the U.S. equalized again just 2:39 after that, eventually forcing overtime.

A too-many-players penalty put Canada on the power play, and Serdachny knocked an Ambrose rebound past a stretched-out Frankel to help the Canadians earn a measure of revenge after the U.S. won gold a year ago on Canadian ice in Brampton, Ontario.

“It’s pretty special and it’s hard to find the words right now” Serdachny said of her game-winner. “To have my family, my coaches, my friends from Colgate and to see them in the crowd celebrating was so special. Obviously winning a gold medal is incredible, but to have all those people here supporting me is truly so special and one I’ll remember for a long time.”

“As a coach you have to be uncomfortable at times. I just stand back there and don’t have to deal with what the players are, like the physicality and the pressure of the game,” said head coach Troy Ryan (Spryfield, NS/Toronto, PWHL). “Hats off to [the players] for sticking with it. I know a lot of people talk about the age of our team, but I think that’s when the experience kicks in and the comfortability of playing in those tough games; emotionally, it probably doesn’t impact them as much.”

With the win, Ryanbecame the winningest coach in Women’s Worlds history with 25 , while Debiens earned her 20th career win at the tournament, surpassing Hockey Hall of Famer Kim St-Pierre for the most by a Canadians. She sits just one victory back of the all-time record, held by former Swiss netminder Florence Schelling.

Following the gold medal game, Renata Fast (Burlington, ON/Toronto, PWHL) was named best defender of the tournament and named to the media all-star team.

“The heart was going up and down, it was such an emotional game and surreal to be part of this game,” said Poulin, who was named Canada’s player of the game. “We knew it was going to be exciting and be back and forth. A 6-5 game – it’s been a while since we have seen that back-and-forth type of game. I have so much respect for [the Americans], they work so hard, we work so hard, and we are going for the same goal at the end of the day, and obviously we’re very happy to get back on top.”

A full game summary and recap can be found at HockeyCanada.ca.

Canada finished 3-0-1-0 in the preliminary round, beating Finland, Switzerland and Czechia before a narrow 1-0 overtime loss to the Americans. It booked its spot in the gold medal game with a 5-1 win over Sweden in the quarterfinals and a 4-0 semifinal win over Czechia.

In 23 appearances, Canada has captured 13 gold medals at the IIHF Women’s World Championship (1990, 1992, 1994, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2007, 2012, 2021, 2022, 2024), in addition to nine silver (2005, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2023) and one bronze (2019).

For more information on Hockey Canada and Canada’s National Women’s Team, please visit HockeyCanada.ca, or following along through social media on Facebook, X and Instagram.

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For further information, please contact:

Esther Madziya
Manager, Communications
Hockey Canada
403.519.5754
emadziya@hockeycanada.ca