Kimberley Newell of Burnaby showed she is Team Canada's goalie of the future following two wins in a three-game under-18 women's hockey series against the United States.
Newell backstopped Canada's national youth team to a 5-4 shootout victory over the Americans in Blaine, Minnesota on Sunday.
The win, Newell's second in two starts in the cross-border series, gave Canada a 2-1 victory in the three-game exhibition series.
Canada was leading the U.S. 4-1 in the third period, when the Americans mounted a comeback, tallying three times in the final five minutes to force an overtime.
"You can't get caught up with those thoughts. It's all about refocusing on the shots to come and I think that's what helped me," said Newell. "The U.S. wasn't giving up, they were coming in hard."
But following a scoreless extra-time period, Newell was rock solid in the cage, stopping both U.S. shooters in the all-important penalty shootout.
"I knew if I got it to the shootout, it's one of my specialties. I was confident I could pull out a win," Newell added.
Canada's Ashleigh Brykaliuk and Karly Heffernan both scored for the Maple Leaf.
Newell stopped a total of 36 shots in the final game.
The Burnaby Winter Club product also registered 41 stops in Canada's 3-2 victory over the U.S. in the opening game of the series on Aug. 16.
Newell did not play in Canada's 3-1 loss in Game 2 on Friday.
"I'm really excited with how we've been doing. I'm sure we'll do really well when it comes to the worlds." said Newell.
The 16-year-old graduated early and will be leaving for Princeton University next week.
