Ann-Renée Desbiens and Team Canada Win World Championships

Ann-Renée Desbiens shut down the United States offense again to win a gold medal.

The former University of Wisconsin women’s hockey goaltender made 20 saves in Canada’s 2-1 victory against the United States for the World Championship crown on Sunday in Herning, Denmark.

 Desbiens saved the gold in the dying seconds, giving Canada their third straight major gold with a victory over the United States. It comes after the 2021 Women’s Worlds last August and Olympic gold in Beijing this past February.
With Nicole Hensley on the bench for a sixth sttacker for the final two and a half minutes, the Americans did everything but tie the game.

 Key to the victory was a series of three saves Desbiens made on Kendall Coyne Schofield with less than half a minute to go, with her pad and then her glove. How Coyne Schofield didn’t score, and how Desbiens made those saves, will go down in World Women’s Championship lore.

The victory completed a hat trick of Canadian triumphs over the U.S. in women’s hockey championship games 2022. Canada won gold in the Olympics in Beijing in February and at the under-18 tournament in Madison in June.

Desbiens, the 2017 Patty Kazmaier Award winner as top player in women’s college hockey, was in goal for the Olympic victory as well.

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