Canada Golden In Women's Hockey; Poulin's Two Goals Beat USA, 2-0

Led by an unbelievable performance by their goaltender, Canada defeated the United States in the gold medal game at the 2010 Winter Olympics on Thursday night. The final score was 2-0, and both goals were scored by 18-year-old Dawson College student Marie-Phillip Poulin, who no doubt is having the best night of her young life tonight.

From start to finish, the United States just couldn't generate quality scoring chances. Szabados made several key saves, many of them extremely impressive, but in the end they didn't get enough traffic in front of the red hot goaltender to successfully disrupt her ability to make saves.

Meanwhile, at the other end, it wasn't like Canada dominated the United States. Both goals came in the first period and Canada's chances too were limited beyond them. A lot of time was spent in each offensive zone, but the majority of the play was defensive in nature. Both teams were solid in that regard, and that type of game didn't play into the hands of a USA team that was behind the 8-ball relatively early.

With an early lead and 16,000-plus screaming fans behind them, Canada marched on to gold. It was a wonderful game and a wonderful tournament for the Americans, who take home the silver. For Canada, it's their third straight Olympic gold medal, but they proved that there's no better way to do it than in your home and native land.

More: SB Nation’s full coverage of the Winter Olympics and the 2010 Winter Olympics Medal Count Tracker.

In the final five minutes or so of the second period, both the Canadians and the Americans were treated to a two-minute-long power play. The Canadians were relentless on theirs, pinning the puck in the American end, disturbing the USA defense and goaltender Jessie Vetter, just plain tiring them out.

They moved the puck around without regard for the US, they got bodies in front of the net, they moved their bodies around and got a ton of shots on goal. The Americans did a lot of good things on their power play as well, but the one thing they aren't doing it getting their positioning right. They aren't getting bodies in front of Canadian goaltender Shannon Szabados, allowing her clear sight on the puck. The US isn't disrupting Canada's defense nearly enough as they should be.

While Canada is tiring the Americans out with the man advantage, the US isn't doing the same thing. They must make it harder on Canada when they're in that end of the ice if they're going to want to beat Szabados, who is playing out of this world in this hockey game.

20 minutes to go and there's a gold medal on the line. Regardless of the outcome, these teams highly dislike each other and the third period should be extremely entertaining.

More: SB Nation’s full coverage of the Winter Olympics and the 2010 Winter Olympics Medal Count Tracker.

Marie-Phillip Poulin is having the game of her life, and it's only the first period. At 18 years old, it's her first Olympics. She's in her home country. And now, she's put Team Canada up 2-0 on two first period goals over their biggest rival, the United States.

The Americans haven't played poorly, but Canadian goaltender Shannon Szabados has thwarted each US chance. They'll have to find some way to get one by her, and it'll have to come sooner rather than later.

More: SB Nation’s full coverage of the Winter Olympics and the 2010 Winter Olympics Medal Count Tracker.

Canadian goaltender Shannon Szabados stood on her head at one end as a relentless American attack bombarded her with the power play. They say that a flawlessly executed power play and a few key saves can shift the momentum in one direction, and that's exactly what happened as the time ticked off the penalty clock.

The Canadians took the puck the other way, and 18-year-old Marie-Phillip Poulin blasted a shot over the shoulder of American goaltender Jessie Vetter to give the home team the 1-0 lead. Let's see how the USA responds.

More: SB Nation’s full coverage of the Winter Olympics and the 2010 Winter Olympics Medal Count Tracker.