MILAN, Feb 20 (Reuters) - The future of women's hockey is bright as another chapter ends in the Winter Games' greatest rivalry after the United States beat Canada in overtime on Thursday, capping a tournament of rising talent and veteran heroes.
The meeting between U.S. and Canada - the seventh in eight editions in which the women's tournament has been contested - will do little to quiet the critics of the North American duopoly over the game.
But Megan Keller's overtime scorcher to seal it for the Americans - and the roars of the fans at Santagiulia arena - was a fitting end to a tournament that could convince even the most sour sceptic that the sport has never been in a better place.
Players touched down in Milan with women's hockey radically transformed from four years ago, with a viable professional league in place that the athletes themselves fought to build from the ground up after the 2022 Beijing Games.
The Professional Women's Hockey League's 61 Olympians combined for 65 goals in Milan and fans will not have to look far to find their favourite players after the Closing Ceremony, with the PWHL season resuming shortly.
The tournament started amid some concern over playing surfaces that did not match the dimensions many had expected in Milan and a Santagiulia arena that organisers scrambled to finish in time.
A spate of norovirus cases in the Finland team forced the defending champions Canada to postpone their opener and an injury to the Canadians' beloved "Captain Clutch" Marie-Philip Poulin nearly derailed what many believe could be the long-time veteran's farewell Games.
But the upset stomachs soothed, Poulin got back on the ice to break the Games' scoring record and hosts Italy pulled off the construction in time to celebrate their own team's dream run to the knockout stages.
The Italians, whose only previous appearance came 20 years ago when they last hosted, succeeded in their bid to "shock the hockey world," as they beat France and Japan in the group stage to secure their place in the quarter-finals.
The tournament came to a crescendo on Thursday with two back-to-back overtime medal games that had Switzerland take the bronze from Sweden and the United States earn a bit of sweet revenge over their rivals.
(Reporting by Amy Tennery, Trevor Stynes and Giulio Piovaccari in Milan)
