Nancy Drolet won six Women's World Championship gold medals in six attempts and scored the golden goal on two occasions.
photo: IIHF Archive
Canada’s Nancy Drolet scored 18 goals in 30 Women’s World Championship games spread over six tournaments, and two of those were golden goals.
American Hilary Knight has scored 43 goals (and counting) in 52 career WW games in ten Women’s Worlds – and two were golden.
Together these women, separated by a generation, have done what no other man or woman has done – scored the golden goal twice in World Championship play.
The first Drolet came in 1997 in Kitchener, Ontario, and ended another thrilling finals against the United States. She had scored twice in regulation of a 3-3 game, and in the overtime she was felled by a hard hit from Vicki Movesessian that resulted in a Canada power play.
The Americans killed off that two minutes expertly, but Drolet got up, skated slowly to the bench, and a few minutes later scored the winner to complete her hat trick.
“I just gave all I got—and I got three goals,” she enthused, with a bit of pain, after the win.
Three years later, she did it again. And again it was for gold against the U.S., and again it was at home, this time in Mississauga, Ontario. This win was more dramatic than the first in that the visitors led 2-0 in the third period.
But Jayna Hefford was the star of that final 20 minutes. She scored an end-to-end, highlight-reel goal early to make it 2-1 and then tied the game with less than seven minutes left in regulation.
This time, in the OT, it was Canada that incurred a penalty – to Hefford, no less – but the Canadian PK unit was perfect and two minutes later Drolet scored the winner.
It was Canada’s 30th straight win at the Women’s Worlds, giving them all six WW gold medals to date, but of course the Americans had won the 1998 Olympic gold, which continued to rankle the favoured Canadians.
It was to be another eleven years before a Women’s Worlds was decided by a golden goal, and when it happened it was the U.S. who converted. The scene was Zurich, Switzerland, and the game was another all-North American finals.
The U.S. led 1-0 and 2-1, but a Rebecca Johnston goal late in the third sent the game to overtime. Knight’s goal at 7:48 of the fourth period came when she banged in a loose puck. It gave the Americans their fourth WW gold in the previous five tournaments, although Canada had won Olympic gold in 2002, 2006, and 2010.
Knight scored her second golden goal on home ice, in Michigan in 2017. She took a nice drop pass off the rush from Kendall Coyne and ripped a shot past Shannon Sazbados.
It was a monster goal for the home side not just because it won the game but because it authenticated the team’s ambitions in the leadup to the tournament when it threatened to boycott the event if their contract were not restructured with more favourable financing. USA Hockey agreed, and the women followed with a win.
Click here for the overview of stories.
American Hilary Knight has scored 43 goals (and counting) in 52 career WW games in ten Women’s Worlds – and two were golden.
Together these women, separated by a generation, have done what no other man or woman has done – scored the golden goal twice in World Championship play.
The first Drolet came in 1997 in Kitchener, Ontario, and ended another thrilling finals against the United States. She had scored twice in regulation of a 3-3 game, and in the overtime she was felled by a hard hit from Vicki Movesessian that resulted in a Canada power play.
The Americans killed off that two minutes expertly, but Drolet got up, skated slowly to the bench, and a few minutes later scored the winner to complete her hat trick.
“I just gave all I got—and I got three goals,” she enthused, with a bit of pain, after the win.
Three years later, she did it again. And again it was for gold against the U.S., and again it was at home, this time in Mississauga, Ontario. This win was more dramatic than the first in that the visitors led 2-0 in the third period.
But Jayna Hefford was the star of that final 20 minutes. She scored an end-to-end, highlight-reel goal early to make it 2-1 and then tied the game with less than seven minutes left in regulation.
This time, in the OT, it was Canada that incurred a penalty – to Hefford, no less – but the Canadian PK unit was perfect and two minutes later Drolet scored the winner.
It was Canada’s 30th straight win at the Women’s Worlds, giving them all six WW gold medals to date, but of course the Americans had won the 1998 Olympic gold, which continued to rankle the favoured Canadians.
It was to be another eleven years before a Women’s Worlds was decided by a golden goal, and when it happened it was the U.S. who converted. The scene was Zurich, Switzerland, and the game was another all-North American finals.
The U.S. led 1-0 and 2-1, but a Rebecca Johnston goal late in the third sent the game to overtime. Knight’s goal at 7:48 of the fourth period came when she banged in a loose puck. It gave the Americans their fourth WW gold in the previous five tournaments, although Canada had won Olympic gold in 2002, 2006, and 2010.
Knight scored her second golden goal on home ice, in Michigan in 2017. She took a nice drop pass off the rush from Kendall Coyne and ripped a shot past Shannon Sazbados.
It was a monster goal for the home side not just because it won the game but because it authenticated the team’s ambitions in the leadup to the tournament when it threatened to boycott the event if their contract were not restructured with more favourable financing. USA Hockey agreed, and the women followed with a win.
Click here for the overview of stories.