Princeton University Athletics
Van Beusekom Earns World Championship Gold With U.S. National Team
April 13, 2005 | Women's Ice Hockey
April 13, 2005
Princeton graduate Megan Van Beusekom appeared in three games for the United States as the U.S. claimed its first-ever gold medal at the 2005 International Ice Hockey Federation Women's World Championship in Linkoping, Sweden, after defeating Canada, 1-0, in the final game of the tournament. The teams skated through 80 scoreless minutes before the U.S. won in a shootout.
Van Beusekom and former Northeastern goaltender Chanda Gunn backstopped the United States in the eight-team tournament. The two goalies split time during the first three games of the tournament before Gunn took over for the medal round games. Van Beusekom allowed two goals on 17 shots in 89:59 of action. She had a 1.33 goals-against average and a .895 save percentage.
The tournament was Van Beusekom's first international experience and she began by playing the second half of Team USA's opening win over China. She was in the net for the second and third periods of a shutout win over Germany and played a period against Finalnd in the final round-robin game. The U.S. then defeated Sweden in the semifinals and Canada for the title. Canada had defeated the U.S. in the previous eight World Championship games since the event began in 1990.