“I’ve been waiting for this game for three years,” said Lacasse. “This is the biggest game I’ve played with the national team so far. I just came out here and embraced the moment and tried to get a win for the team.”

Many viewed Canada’s 3-2 comeback victory in overtime in the Sochi final as the single most exciting hockey game of the 2014 Olympics – for either gender. And even in defeat, the new U.S. head coach, ex-NHLer Ken Klee, described the Kamloops rematch as “one hell of a game” and “just an awesome thing for women’s hockey”.

“It was definitely close,” said U.S. captain Alex Carpenter. “It hurts a little bit. But our main focus is the World Championship in Malmo. We’re going to use this as a stepping stone.”

Jennifer Wakefield scored twice in regulation for Canada, while Knight and Brianna Decker replied for the Americans.

Overall, there weren’t many surprises at the Four Nations Cup. The Finns came closest to staging an upset when they only trailed Canada 1-0 early in the third period, but lost 3-1.

The Swedes dodged a bullet while nipping Finland for bronze. It was almost a disastrous tournament debut for head coach Leif Boork, who served as an assistant to Niclas Hogberg in Sochi.

Damkronorna were blanked in three straight round-robin losses (2-0 to Canada, 1-0 to Finland and 3-0 to the U.S.). They were 3:33 away from becoming the first Four Nations team ever to go scoreless through an entire tournament – when Emma Nordin potted the 1-1 equalizer.

Similar to the 2014 Olympics, a Swedish victory sent Finland home empty-handed. Captain Jenni Asserholt got the OT winner with one minute remaining.

“We had a restart of the team, so to speak, because we had some really tough years the last four or five years,” said Boork, 65, who previously coached the Swedish and Norwegian national men’s teams. “So we had to try to rebuild it. We haven’t had that many shots on goal or made so many goals, but then we made the most important goals in this game. That feels good.”

The Finns took a step back after winning Four Nations silver last year following a shocking 3-1 victory over the host Americans in Lake Placid. They outshot Sweden 28-16, but it wasn’t enough against Kim Martin Hasson, best-known as the heroine of Sweden’s unlikely 2006 Olympic silver medal run.

“We had maybe 10 to 12 good chances to score,” said captain Jenni Hiirikoski. “So it was like Finland versus Kim Martin today.”

While the Finns used three different goalies in Kamloops and all played well, they’ll hope to get top netminder Noora Raty back for Malmo despite her announcement in Sochi to leave. Thrice named Best Goalie at the Women’s Worlds (2007, 2008, 2011), the 25-year-old has played this season with Kiekko Vantaa in Mestis, the second-highest Finnish men’s league.

November has also featured plenty of other noteworthy international women’s action.

The International Chablais Hockey Trophy tournament was hosted from November 7 to 9 by Switzerland, which surprisingly captured the 2014 Olympic bronze medal over Sweden. Germany, however, won the three-game round-robin invitational, edging a promising French squad that finished second. Slovakia was fourth. France’s Lara Escudero led the tournament in scoring (1-3-4).

In a three-game qualification series for the 2015 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship, Japan and the Czech Republic both posted 2-0 victories over each other, setting up a showdown for top-division promotion on Tuesday in Yokohama. See game stories: Game 1, Game 2.

In a round-robin U18 women’s competition, four nations squared off in Dmitrov, Russia, and the host nation came away victorious with seven points after beating Finland 2-1 and Germany 4-2 before falling 3-2 to Sweden in a shootout. The Finns were second with six points and Sweden third with five points. Germany, outscored 12-5, finished with zero points.