ZURICH - The U.S. Women's National Team won its third straight world title with a 3-2 overtime victory against Canada here tonight at the 2011 IIHF World Women's Championship at Hallenstadion. Hilary Knight (Sun Valley, Idaho) scored the winning goal at 7:48 of the extra session, while Jessie Vetter (Cottage Grove, Wis.) made 51 saves in the championship-winning effort.

Team USA finished the tournament with a 4-1-0-0 record (W-OTW-OTL-L) to capture the gold medal for the fourth time in the last five world championships.

"I am so thrilled for the players," said Katey Stone, head coach for Team USA. "They've worked extremely hard and bought into everything we were trying to accomplish. They played their hearts out - what an awesome night."

The U.S. went up 1-0 late in the first period before Canada scored in the final seconds of the frame for a 1-1 score. The Americans regained the lead midway through the second stanza, however the Canadians tied the score with under four minutes left in the game to send it to overtime.

After skating to a scoreless draw for the majority of the opening frame, the teams traded goals in the closing minutes for a 1-1 score. Jocelyne Lamoureux (Grand Forks, N.D.) put the U.S. on the board at 16:56 using a give-and-go play with her twin sister, Monique Lamoureux-Kolls(Grand Forks, N.D.). With just :08 to go in the frame, Canada's Gillian Apps fired a slap shot under the crossbar to knot the game at 1-1.

In a tightly contested second period, Jenny Potter (Edina, Minn.) scored the lone goal to put Team USA back up, 2-1. Splitting a pair of Canadian players, she hit the top right corner ofthe net with a backhanded shot at 12:05.

Using a late third-period power-play opportunity, Canada tied the game on a Rebecca Johnston goal at 16:04 to force overtime.

Knight scored the championship-winning goal at 7:48 into the 4-on-4 sudden-death overtime session to seal the victory for Team USA.

NOTES: Kelli Stack (Brooklyn Heights, Ohio) was named U.S. Player of the Game ... Canada held a 53-50 edge in shots ... The U.S. was 0-for-5 on the power play, while Canada was 1-for-4 ... Monique Lamoureux-Kolls was selected as the top forward of the tournament by the directorate ... Caitlin Cahow (Vinalhaven, Maine) and Hilary Knight were selected to the media all-star team ... Knight was the tournament's leading scorer with 14 points (5-9), while Brianna Decker (Dousman, Wis.) was second overall with 11 points (4-7) ... The U.S. had captured three gold medals (2005, 2008, 2009) and nine silvers (1990, 1992, 1994,1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2007) in the 12 previous IIHF World Women’s Championships. .. Joining Katey Stone as assistant coaches were Mark Hudak, head women's ice hockey coach at Dartmouth College, and Hilary Witt, assistant women's ice hockey coach at Northeastern University. In addition, Robb Stauber served as the goalie coach and Misha Donskov was the skill development coach ... Get behind-the-scenes news and information by finding USA Hockey on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.