Persevering and resilient, Mélodie Daoust overcame the odds to help the Canadian women’s hockey team win Olympic gold at the Beijing 2022 Games.
It was around 2 a.m. in Quebec when Mélodie Daoust received her Olympic gold medal with Team Canada captain Marie-Philip Poulin. (Photo Hockey Canada)
Injured in the first game of the preliminary round, the Salaberry-de-Valleyfield native came back in the semi-final against Switzerland and she offered a solid performance in the final confrontation to contribute to a 3-2 victory of the Canadians over their American rivals.
This is a 2nd Olympic conquest and a 3rd medal at the Winter Games for the resident of Saint-Zotique, who had to settle for silver in 2018 in Pyeongchang when Canada lost in a shootout in the final.
Mélodie and her teammates were just waiting to take the gold from the Americans, which they did convincingly by winning all their matches including the two confrontations with the United States. Last Wednesday evening into Thursday (Quebec time), the Canadian women overwhelmed the Canadian nation by giving themselves a 3-0 lead to then hold their own on their way to the Olympic title.
From the start, Canada seemed to have taken the lead on a goal by Natalie Spooner who completed the work of Mélodie Daoust to propel the puck into the top corner. However, a video replay was requested by the American team and the goal was refused due to an offside into the zone.
The Canadians did not give up and scored 3 goals without retaliation including a double from captain Marie-Philip Poulin. The “Wayne Gretzky” of women’s hockey also got an assist on Sarah Nurse’s goal early in the game.
The Americans closed the gap in the second period and made it 3-2 with 13 seconds left in the game as they played 6 on 4. Goaltender Anne-Renee Desbiens and her team then achieved victory of the Canadians who avenged their last Olympic loss in South Korea.
Quebec hockey players played a leading role in this 5th gold medal win in the last 7 Olympic Games. In addition to the hard work of Mélodie Daoust, goaltender Anne-Renée Desbiens made 38 saves while “Captain Canada”, Marie-Philip Poulin lived up to her reputation as a great leader and scorer at the right times.
