Plymouth — The storybook that ended Friday with a 3-2 world championship win in overtime for the U.S. Women’s National Team began 18 months ago when the players started asking for more money and support.
It extended through their boycott of a training camp set for Traverse City before the tournament and through long talks with USA Hockey, lawyers and their vast solidarity as a team.
It resulted in what women athletes say is a historic agreement that helps establish hockey as a profession for women.
And then came the overtime, against Canada.
With the United States playing well and carrying much of the play, Hilary Knight, one of the finest women’s players in the world and a forward for the Boston Pride of the National Women’s Hockey League, skated in front of a Canadian shot from the point.
Knight took the blow. The puck hit the ice in front of her.
Without the slightest glance at where the puck was going, she made a pass between her legs to the high-scoring forward, Kendall Coyne.
The Canadians, already almost entirely out of position because of the block, could only watch Knight’s mastery, then pursue.
“I was just thinking, `I’ve got to block a shot,’ and then I’ve got to get it to Kendall because she’s fast as hell and she’s going to skate up ice with it,” Knight said after receiving her gold medal.
The Americans flew into the Canadian zone on a 3-on-2 break, with Coyne leading and Knight lagging, purposefully.
“She created a lot of separation for me,” Knight said. “I kind of just filled in behind her, and figured I’d just take the shot.”
Asked if she aimed, the NWHL sharpshooter smiled and said, “Yes.”
The triumph, defending their 2016 world championship on home ice at USA Hockey Arena, is enormous.
The rivalry between the only two powers in international women’s hockey is such that Canada has won the last four Olympics, after the United States took the first. The U.S. Women’s National Team is now seven for eight in the International Ice Hockey Federation Women’s World Championship.
But the players were clear about what they felt: The world championship was not their greatest victory, this spring.
That came through organizing a unified effort and standing up to USA Hockey, which had threatened to dress other women players to beat back the unity and savvy bargaining of the U.S. Women’s National Team, their pro bono legal assistance and guidance from professional players’ agents.
From older players who are no longer on the roster to high school girls of age 16, women and girls stood in solidarity with the team.
“The negotiation process took a toll, and our camp was shorter,” said Knight, 27, of Palo Alto, California. “But we knew it was going to be a bond that was unbreakable.
“We set a historic landmark for the next generation.
“To build off of that and come in with that momentum, and then make another historic landmark for ourselves, winning another world championship here on home soil …”
Knight left the conclusion for others to discern.
Unity is said to achieve marvelous things.
For the veteran defenseman Kacey Bellamy, it came in the form of two goals — her first in 11 games in international competition.
The first tied the score at 1, 3 1/2 minutes after Canada put the United States behind for only the second time in the tournament, at 1:01 of the first period, with a goal by Meghan Agosta.
“It was very big,” Bellamy said, of the quick response by the United States.
“You know, yesterday we just said, `Shoot from the point. Shoot from the point.’ So I made sure as soon as I got the puck that I would shoot, and Brianna Decker screened the goalie perfectly.”
The score remained tied, with 3,917 fans in the equally divided arena alternating between boisterous excitement and quiet anxiety, until 42 seconds of the third period
With the United States forwards harassing the outstanding Canadian goalie Shannon Szabados all around the crease, suddenly, far in from the blue line, stood Bellamy, joining the fray.
“Yeah, I don’t know. I’m not a ‘D’ to step into the play,” said Bellamy, 29, of Providence, Rhode Island.
“But I just felt like we had more numbers than them, and then I started just waiting around in front of the goalie. Then, I saw ‘Knighter’ get the loose puck.
“I said ‘I’m going to wait here and see what happens.’ And, luckily, it got on my stick.”
Of her good fortune, after the long scoring dry spell, Bellamy said, “Oh yeah, it’s hilarious. The girls, they loved it. And it’s so fun to see everyone’s reactions and it’s amazing. It’s obviously an energy boost.
“We’re such a united team. We knew if we remained strong, that this is the team USA Hockey would want to put on the ice.”
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