Olympic Hockey Results 2018: Medal Winners for Women's Tournament

The United States ended Canada's stranglehold on the women's ice hockey at the Winter Olympics on Thursday, as they secured a dramatic shootout win over their archrivals in the final.

After a 2-2 draw at the end of overtime, Team USA goalkeeper Maddie Rooney emerged as the hero for her side, saving Meghan Agosta's effort and sparking wild celebrations.

It meant Canada were forced to take silver for the first time in this event in five Games; they'd beaten the USA in three of those. Earlier in the day, Finland topped the Olympic Athletes from Russia 3-2 to win the bronze medal.

Here's a recap of the results from Pyeongchang, as the United States secured a memorable victory at the expense of their fiercest rivals.

Ice Hockey Results

Gold medal match — United States 2-2 Canada (USA win shootout)

Bronze medal match — Finland 3-2 OAR

For the competition results in full visit the Pyeongchang 2018 website.

Glory At Last for Team USA

Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

Whenever the United States and Canada come face-to-face in any sporting event, there's an edge. Mix that with the quality both of these sides possess, and the final was always going to be a thriller.

As noted by BBC Sport commentator Seth Bennett, what followed on Thursday at the Gangneung Hockey Centre was one of the most dramatic Olympic finals of all time:

Hilary Knight put the United States ahead in the first period before Haley Irwin and Marie Philip-Poulin turned the match around for Canada after the interval. Then, in the third frame, Monique Lamoureux-Morando levelled for the States.

Following a tense and scoreless overtime period, the winners of gold were to be determined by a shootout. 

In it, Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson gave the United States the advantage, before Rooney made the decisive save from Agosta.

Here's the winning moment, per NBC Olympics:

Meanwhile, ESPN's Chris Peters paid tribute to the goaltender, who had already made 29 saves in the match before the shootout started:

"I just took each player one at a time," said the 20-year-old stopper after her heroics, per Greg Wyshynski of ESPN. "When it came down to one shooter to win it, I just said, 'It's one more save, and then it's a gold medal.'"

Jamie Squire/Getty Images

Indeed, the celebrations were understandable from the United States, as they haven't won gold in this event since 1998. And having lost two finals to Canada in overtime in recent Games, they would've been fearing the worst late on.

While it was delight for USA, it was heartbreak for Canada, as they had come so close to yet another Olympic title.

As noted by SB Nation, while they picked up silver medals, the Canadian players weren't quite savouring the moment:

Indeed, having been so dominant in the event for so long, the dejection of many of the team's players was understandable. To lose to the United States would've made this one even more difficult to swallow.

Per Rodger Sherman, it was a tough day for Canada at the expense of their major rivals in two of the country's most popular sports:

On Wednesday, Finland capped off an excellent tournament with victory in their bronze-medal match with OAR, staving off a third-period fightback from the Russian players.

Petra Nieminen, Susanna Tapani and Linda Valimaki were on the scoresheet for the Finns, as they pushed into a 3-1 lead. Lyudmila Belyakova made things nervous for Finland late on, although they were eventually able to see this one through.

It's a result that matches Finland's best performance in women's ice hockey at the Olympics, as they've won bronze twice before.