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By Dan Plouffe
Ottawa goalkeeper Rowan Harris shutout USA 1-0 to send Canada to its first women’s first hockey World Cup since 1994 on Saturday in Santiago, Chile.
The victory gave Canada the bronze medal at the Jan. 19-29 Pan American Cup and secured the final regional berth in the 2022 World Cup, which will take place from July 1-17 in Spain and The Netherlands.
“It’s a really good feeling and I’m so excited to go to the World Cup,” Harris said in an International Hockey Federation post-game interview. “I’m just so proud of this group of players, my teammates, for pulling through and pulling together to qualify for the World Cup. We’ve been working so long – frozen pitches, no coaches, great coaches – it’s been a long, long road, and I’m just so proud of this group.”
Canada, ranked 15th in the world, had lost to USA 3-1 earlier in the tournament and were the underdogs heading into the match. Canada had fallen 3-0 to perennial Pan American-champion Argentina in the semi-final. In Canada’s first elimination match, Harris shutdown Uruguay in a 3-0 shootout following a 1-1 regulation. She also played part of Canada’s pool play shutouts over Peru and Trinidad.
The Glebe Collegiate Institute grad first played for the Canadian senior women’s team in 2016. The member of the Nepean Nighthawks Field Hockey Club hall of fame won four Canadian university championships with the UBC Thunderbirds from 2014-2018.