Canada women take gold

Congratulations to the Canadian women, taking the gold in women's hockey with a convincing 4-1 win over Sweden. The Canadian women didn't give Sweden many opportunities; Canada out-shot Sweden 26-8.

Gillian Apps got the scoring underway just over three minutes in the game. Caroline Ouellette also scored in the first period. Jayna Hefford had a goal and an assist, while Hayley Wickenheiser and Jennifer Botterill each had two assists. Cherie Piper had the other Canadian goal.

Canada outscored the competition in the Olympic tournament 46-2. Sweden scored both goals against them, both on power plays.

After losing to the U.S. in Nagano, Japan in 1998, Canada has now won two straight gold medals, and will be the defending Olympic champions when the Games come to Vancouver in 2010.

"This is beautiful, and it was just a great team effort to bring home another gold medal for our country," said captain Cassie Campbell to the CBC after the team received their medals. "I know there are so many people back home who are proud of us. I'm so proud of every single player on our team."

In the bronze medal game, the U.S. shutout Finland 4-0. Katie King had a natural hat trick* in the contest.

* A Hat trick is three goals in a game. A natural hat trick is when you score three uninterrupted goals in a game.


Here are the updated medal standings:

2006 Winter Olympic Medal Standings



Country
Gold
Silver
Bronze
Total
Germany
7
7
4
18
Norway
2
7
8
17
Austria
7
5
3
15
United States
7
5
3
15
Russia
7
2
5
14
Canada
3
6
5
14