Canadians beat U.S. women for hockey gold

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Canada's game. Canada's ice. Canada's gold - again.

Marie-Philip Poulin scored two goals, Shannon Szabados made 28 saves, and Canada rolled through its American rivals, 2-0, to win the gold medal in women's hockey for the third straight Olympics last night in front of a raucous crowd ringing cowbells and frantically waving thousands of maple leaf flags.

With Poulin's two first-period goals, Canada earned its 15th straight Olympic victory.

Playing with a consistency and passion its men's team hopes to emulate this weekend, Canada remained unbeaten at the Olympics since 1998, when the Americans won the first women's gold. Canada's Meghan Agosta was voted the tournament MVP for her Olympic-record nine-goal performance.

The Canadians kept nearly the entire game in the Americans' end - outpassing, outshooting and simply outworking the only team in women's hockey with a chance of standing up to them.

Jessie Vetter made 27 saves for the Americans, whose offense evaporated in front of Szabados and the Canadian defense. The potent power play that produced 13 goals in the last four games went 0-for-6, and the Canadians consistently won most of the battles in a physical, grinding game.

Several Americans were in tears, including four-time Olympians Angela Ruggiero and Jenny Potter. The Canadian crowd raised a chant of "U-S-A!" while the players got their bouquets.

"When you give your whole life to something and you come up short, as a team, it's just awful," Ruggiero said, choking back tears. "It's a little different than playing on the men's side. You really give your life to it. You make lots of sacrifices to win the gold medal."

"This rivalry will never end," Szabados said. "It will keep going and going."