MONCTON, New Brunswick -- Abby Roque and Alex Carpenter scored early goals, and the United States women’s hockey team held on to beat Canada 2-1 in the second game of their five-game Rivalry Series.
Roque found the net 2:43 into the first period on the Americans’ first shot on goal - beating Canadian goaltender Ann-Renee Desbiens stick-side.
Carpenter extended the lead at 14:09 of the first. She got a quick pass from Kelly Pannek through the crease and easily found the back of the net.
Canada got on the scoreboard midway through a chippy second period when Ann-Sophie Bettez deflected the puck past American goaltender Aerin Frankel.
''The second period, I thought we got a little momentum. We got the goal and the game started to change,’' Canada coach Perry Pearn said. ''Certainly I thought we controlled the third period. But you’ve got to be so careful against the Americans. You can’t give them odd-man rushes and we did too much of that tonight.’'
The U.S. captured the series opener 4-1 on Saturday in Hartford, Connecticut.
USA Hockey and Hockey Canada established the Rivalry Series last season to further showcase the women’s national teams. Canada won the inaugural series, 2-1.
The series continues with games on Feb. 3 in Victoria, British Columbia, Feb. 5 in Vancouver and Feb. 8 in Anaheim, California.