HAMEENLINNA, Finland – The U.S. Women's National Team made history by successfully defending its world title with a 4-1 victory over Canada here tonight at the 2009 International Ice Hockey Federation World Women's Championship at the Patria Arena. The United States completed the tournament with a 4-0-0-1 record and now holds the No. 1 world ranking for the first time since the system was introduced in 2004.

Caitlin Cahow (Branford, Conn.) scored twice, Jessie Vetter (Cottage Grove, Wis.) made 39 saves and Team USA played a penalty-free game to secure its third world title in the last four world championships (2005, 2008, 2009).

"I'm excited for the players," said Team USA Head Coach Mark Johnson, who is also the head women's ice hockey coach at the University of Wisconsin. "What we saw today was full commitment - they put the effort in for three periods and were rewarded in the end. The game was good start to finish and we played disciplined hockey."

The Americans got off to a quick start and scored just :24 into the contest. Jenny Potter(Edina, Minn.) carried the puck up the length of the ice on the right side and passed underneath a Canadian defender to Cahow at the left post. Cahow found the open near side of the net for a 1-0 score.

In a physical, back-and-forth second period, Canada knotted the score at the 5:11 mark when Jennifer Botterill put a wrist shot just inside the left post from the slot. The U.S. came back with a goal five minutes later, as Jocelyne Lamoureux (Grand Forks, N.D.) fed a pass to a rushing Meghan Duggan (Danvers, Mass.) in the slot, as Duggan beat a Canadian defender and put a shot over Charline Labonte's glove at 10:10.

After Canada's Sarah Vaillancourt was whistled for just the second penalty of the game at 6:24 of the final stanza, Cahow netted her second goal of the game. With help from Natalie Darwitz(Eagan, Minn.) and Gigi Marvin (Warroad, Minn.), Cahow swept the puck past Labonte from between the faceoff circles at 7:09 to give the U.S. a 3-1 lead.

With Labonte pulled in favor of an extra Canadian attacker, Hilary Knight (Hanover, N.H.) put one in the empty net with nine seconds left in the game to account for the 4-1 final score.

NOTES: The United States was 1-for-2 on the power play ... Canada held a 40-29 advantage in shots ... Caitlin Cahow was named U.S. Player of the Game, while Jenny Potter was chosen as the most skilled ... Kacey Bellamy (Westfield, Mass.), Julie Chu (Fairfield, Conn.) and Hilary Knight were named the top three U.S. players of the tournament ... Jessie Vetter, Angela Ruggiero (Harper Woods, Mich.), Chu and Natalie Darwitz earned spots on the Media All-Star Team ... Chu finished as the tournament's leading point getter with 10 points (5-5), while Darwitz was second with 10 points (3-7) and Knight was third with nine points (7-2). Knight was the tournament's leading goal scorer ... Coverage of the 2009 IIHF World Women's Championship can be found on USAHockey.com, as well as on the U.S. Women's National Team's Facebook page and on USA Hockey's Twitter page ... Team USA has won three gold medals and nine silvers in 12 IIHF World Women’s Championships. The U.S. has won two of the last three world championships (2005, 2008) … Mark Johnson will serve as the head coach for Team USA through the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, B.C. Joining Johnson on the coaching staff as assistant coaches at the 2009 IIHF World Women's Championship were Dave Flint, head women’s ice hockey coach at Northeastern University, and Jodi McKenna, head women’s ice hockey coach at Wesleyan University.