Adam Prudhomme
Beaver Staff
Maddi Wheeler picked the perfect spot for her first goal of the IIFH U18 Women’s World Championship, scoring the game winner in overtime to send Team Canada to a 3-2 win over the United States on Sunday in Obihiro, Japan.
The 16-year-old Erinsville native picked up her own rebound to score 1:34 into overtime, giving Canada its first gold medal at the tournament since 2014.
“We were on a 4-on-3 power-play,” Wheeler said of her game winner. “Our defenceman Kendall Cooper dropped me off the puck and then I just drove wide, took a dead angle shot, just hoped for a rebound then went and gathered my own rebound.”
The result sent the Canadian bench and fans into an uproar and capped off their gold medal run.
“I was just trying to find my first teammate to hug to celebrate with,” recalled Wheeler in the aftermath of her goal.
Canada held an early 1-0 lead in the gold medal game but saw the U.S. fight back to tie late in the second and then go up 2-1 six minutes into the third. Canada was able to rally and tie it with nine minutes left to help set up Wheeler’s overtime winner.
Canada’s win was a measure of revenge against the U.S., who stood at the only team to beat them in the preliminary round. Canada had held a 2-0 lead before the U.S. came back with three unanswered.
“We knew we could beat them because we beat them two out of three games at the Summer Series,” said Wheeler. “We just basically had to stick to our game plan. The first game we didn’t really stick to our game plan to that and everything worked out once we did.”
Wheeler was a major offensive contributor throughout the tournament, recording at least one assist in every game prior to the finals, including two in a 5-1 victory over Russia to close out the preliminary round. The Canadians were 2-1 through the first round, also defeating Sweden before losing to their eventual finals opponent, the Americans.
In Saturday’s semifinals against Russia, Wheeler picked up a key assist in Canada’s 4-3 overtime win.
Though she hadn’t found the back of the net before the finals, Wheeler said she wasn’t concerned.
“I was just trying to set people up for the best opportunity to score,” said Wheeler. “It doesn’t matter who is scoring, as long as we’re working as a team. It doesn’t matter who scores the goal, it just matters who is winning at the end.”
Along with coming home with a gold medal, Wheeler said she also took away some valuable lessons from her time with Team Canada.
“I was coached by the best coaches in Canada,” said Wheeler. “So you’ve just got to take in as much as you can in a short period of time.”
She also noted she received plenty of support from friends and family back home throughout the tournament, despite the 14 hour time difference, with most of Canada’s games taking place at 3 a.m. Eastern Standard Time.
The tournament now completed, she’ll return home and resume her season with the PHWL’s Nepean Wildcats as well as with her high school team, the NDSS Golden Hawks. She has two years left of high school before she’ll suit up for the University of Wisconsin.