URL:http://www2.torstar.com/sportswire/amhockey/HKY-Women-Worlds.html

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Late breaking SportsWire Story last updated on Mon Apr 7 2:40:15 EDT 1997 
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Canada 4 United States 3 (OT) 

- Lying on the ice in pain about four minutes earlier, Nancy Drolet
got up and put Canada back on top of the world of women's hockey
Sunday night.

Drolet's third goal of the game - 12:59 into a rivetting overtime
period - lifted Canada to a 4-3 victory over the United States in a
dramatic gold medal game at the fourth women's world hockey
championship.

``I hurt my neck earlier in the tournament and I took a second to
check to see if everything was OK,'' Drolet said of the incident
that forced her to be helped from the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium
ice surface.

``I got on my feet and I knew I was OK.''

The native of Drummondville, Que., was OK enough to score the
winning goal from a scramble around American goalie Erin Whitten.

``It was my turn today and but it could have been a lot of other
people,'' said Drolet, who was named player of the game for Canada.

On the winning play, Hayley Wickenheiser of Calgary took a pass
from Cassie Campbell of Brampton, Ont., and rushed around the U.S.
defence, cutting in with a backhand shot that Whitten stopped but
couldn't control.

Drolet pounced on the rebound from a scramble in front of the net.

``The team gave everything it had,'' said Whitten. ``A couple of
bad bounces can turn a game around, a couple of poor calls.

``But we don't have any one to blame, we can't even blame
ourselves. We played a strong game, you can't take that away from
us.''

After receiving their gold medals, Canadian players stood at the
blue line with their arms around each other's shoulders and sang O
Canada.

Canada has now won 20 straight games and four gold medals in world
championship play. In each final, they've beaten the United States
but the margin is narrowing. Canada won 5-2 in Ottawa in 1990, 8-0
in Tampere, Finland in 1992 and 6-3 in Lake Placid, N.Y. in 1994.

However, those who expect the Canadians to waltz to a gold medal at
the Nagano Olympics next year should think again.

``We had a tough semifinal against Finland and this was a battle
the whole way, people may have expected us to win but the
commitment, energy and heart of the players on this team was the
only reason we came out on top,'' said captain Stacy Wilson of
Salisbury, N.B.

The game was played in stark contrast to the one-sided contests
that had dominated the week-long tournament.

Body-checking may be illegal in the rule book but that rule was
forgotten on the ice as the teams bumped and battled all over the
rink as referee Sandra Dombrowski of Switzerland turned a blind eye
to most contact.

It created a more entertaining game that had been the standard in
the tournament, but only because the teams were of equal skill and
could match up evenly. Dombrowski was a little inconsistent - hardly
a shock considering the skills she's used to seeing in Switzerland
compared to this game - but her leniency generally provided for a
game with a good flow and high intensity.

``Any time we face the States, it's rough,'' said Canadian coach
Shannon Miller of Calgary.

A boisterous, flag-waving, sellout crowd of 6,247 was on the edge
of its seats from start to finish and was rewarded with an exciting,
see-saw game.

Canada led 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 before the Americans came back each
time. Toronto's Angela James scored Canada's other goal with Alana
Blahoski, Stephanie O'Sullivan and Katie King replying for the
Americans.

Campbell and Wickenheiser were named to the tournament's all-star
team, along with goalie Patricia Sautter of Switzerland, defenceman
Kelly O'Leary of the United States, American forward Cammi Granato
and forward Rikka Nieminen of Finland, which won the bronze medal by
beating China 3-0 earlier Sunday.

KITCHENER, Ont. (CP)

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