You are 60 minutes away from winning a gold medal for Canada.
You look across the ice see a team that handed you a 7-0 loss four days earlier.
They are what stands between you and gold.
“We understood that we couldn’t beat them with skill alone. They were a very skilled team,” admitted Team Canada’s Jocelyn Amos. “We had to outwork them.”
The recipe of a game plan that Canada constructed worked brilliantly as Canada edged the United States 3-2 to win the Under-18 Women’s World Hockey Championship in Madison, Wisc., on June 13.
When Canada needed skill, they flashed it. They jumped out to a 3-0 lead on goals by Alexia Aubin, Ava Murphy and Amos who showed off her quick hands in front of the net after following her own rebound to the top of the crease.
We got our energy going and it resulted in goals and we wanted this so bad,” said Amos. “We had to come out harder (than them).”
Amos could not have known it just over halfway through the second period but her goal would end up being the difference.
“I was actually carrying the puck down the ice and I tried to shoot it using the defence as a screen,” the Ailsa Craig, Ont., native pointed out.
“I had (Karel) Prefontaine coming up and I funnelled to the net and I just got the rebound. I had chances earlier in the tournament and didn’t finish. I was so excited to be able to do that for the team.”
Team USA didn’t make it easy on Canada. They popped in two goals in a span of seven seconds with less than two minutes remaining in the second period to get to within a goal of Canada, but Canada didn’t flinch.
“We always talked about every goal for or against makes us better,” Amos described. “We lost ourselves there for about two minutes and we knew they were coming and we had to come back harder.”
Amos said the time in the dressing room before the third period was key.
“We stayed positive,” said Amos. “We looked at things we could improve on. It was coming from everyone. Not just our captains, but everyone.”
Team Canada goalie Mari Pietersen stopped all 10 shots she faced from a big Team USA push over the final 20 minutes and eventually the clock wound down.
“I was standing at the door (on the bench) waiting to go out next and I looked up at the clock and there were 10 seconds left,” remembers Amos. “I was one of the first ones to jump on the goal so I was at the bottom of the pile and my helmet came up and caught my chin so I have a nice bruise but it was all worth it.”
One of the most unique things about what Amos went through was the fact that she went through it with her London Devilettes teammates Madison Chantler and Emma Pais.
They were three of 23 players on Team Canada and they grew up playing together.
“It was unreal,” described Amos. “So special to be there with them. To be able to go across that stage together to get those medals was so special. We hoped it would happen. We worked for it and it came true.”
Amos admits she has spent a lot of time looking at the medal and soaking in what it means to be wearing it.
“Haven’t really taken it off since we got them.”
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