USA Women's Hockey

ZLIN, Czech Republic -- Despite outshooting Canada, 28-16, the U.S. Women's National Under-18 Team fell to Canada, 3-0, in the championship game of the 2012 IIHF Women's World U18 Championship. With the defeat, Team USA finished the tournament in second place with a 4-0-0-1 (W-OTW-OTL-L) record.

"It's disappointing," said Heather Linstad, head coach of the U.S. Women's National Under-18 Team. "I thought our team had great team chemistry. We worked really hard and created many scoring opportunities, but couldn't find the back of the net."

Alexis Crossley scored on a rebound at 9:04 of the first period and Sarah Lefort capitalized on the power play at 14:03 to give Canada a 2-0 lead heading into the first intermission. Canada connected for a second power-play tally at 15:42 of the third period to secure a 3-0 victory.

Brianna Laing (Marblehead, Mass.) made 13 saves in the loss, while Emerance Maschmeyer made 28 saves for Canada.

NOTES: Haley Skarupa was named Team USA's Player of the Game ... Skarupa led the tournament in scoring with 11 points (11-0) ... Team USA recorded 28 shots on goal, while Canada had 16 ... Alex Carpenter earned the Best Forward of the tournament with nine points (4-5) ... The three best players of the tournament for Team USA, as chosen by the coaches: Alex Carpenter, Anne Pankowski and Haley Skarupa ... Alex Carpenter was Team USA's captain ... The IIHF U18 Women's World Championship, was played for the fifth time, and included teams from Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States ... Team USA captured gold in each of the first two years of the tournament (2008, 2009) as well as last season (2011). In 2010, the team took home the silver medal ... Heather Linstad, head women's ice hockey coach at the University of Connecticut, is the head coach of the U.S. Women's National Under-18 Team for the 2011-12 season. She is assisted by Joel Johnson and Hilary Witt ... To follow the team in the Czech Republic, check out the U.S. Women's National Program blog by clicking here ... Post-game video interviews can be found by clicking here.

GAME SUMMARY

Scoring By Period

First Period - Scoring: 1, CAN, Crossley (Woods), 9:04; 2, CAN, Lefort (MacAulay, Crossley), 14:03 (pp). Penalties: CAN, Capizzano (slashing), 10:42; USA, Illikainen (interference), 13:37.

Second Period -Scoring: None. Penalties: CAN, Lefort (cross-checking), 0:26; CAN, Connery (boarding), 2:49; USA, Burke (body checking), 6:58; USA, Kennedy-Menefee (slashing), 12:18; CAN, Team (too many men), 13:09; CAN, Krzyzaniak (tripping), 17:16.

Third Period - Scoring: 3, CAN, Roesler (Lefort), 15:42 (pp). Penalties: CAN, Kohler (elbowing), 3:03; CAN, Dubois (slashing), 9:05; Krzyzaniak (boarding), 11:14; USA, Savage (slashing), 15:02; Burke (roughing), 19:10; Pankowski (cross-checking), 19:57.

Power Play: USA 0-8; CAN 2-6
Penalties: USA 6-12; CAN 8-16