Team USA Completes a Long, Hard Climb

It took 80 minutes of scoreless hockey and a shootout, but the United States has finally won its first World Women's Hockey Championship, ending Canada's string of eight consecutive world titles.

Canada and the U.S. were scoreless through regulation time and one period of overtime in today's final game. The Americans produced most of the offense - Canadian goaltender Kim St. Pierre made 49 saves, while Chanda Gunn stopped 26 - but both teams missed several excellent chances to break the tie. In the shootout, the Americans clinched the championship on goals by Natalie Darwitz, Angela Ruggiero and Krissy Wendell. Only Sarah Vaillancourt scored for Canada.

Considering how closely matched the two countries have been over the years, the American breakthrough was long overdue. This was the ninth women's world tournament and the ninth time Canada played the U.S. in the final game.

Canada's 2005 women's team becomes the answer to a trivia question: What hockey team went through an entire world championship tournament without giving up a single goal, but finished second? Technically, today's U.S. win goes into the books as a 1-0 victory.

Sweden won the bronze medal with a 5-2 win over Finland