Shelton earns Olympic gold

Ella Shelton, a London Devilettes alumna, helped Canada’s women’s hockey team win Olympic gold in Beijing. The team clinched gold Wednesday night with a 3-2 win over the United States.

Shelton in pre-tournament action. (Photo: Hockey Canada Images).

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In less than five weeks, Ella Shelton lived out two dreams. First, she was named to Canada’s Olympic women’s hockey team – one of the youngest players to head to Beijing to compete on the world stage. Late Wednesday night, she became an Olympic gold medalist.

Canada bested the United States, 3-2, at Wukesong Sports Centre late Wednesday night (EST) in the 164th meeting all-time between the two teams. On the line this time was Olympic gold, and the Canadians outplayed their American counterparts to earn the honours – and claim their first Olympic title since 2014.

It was a pair of goals from captain Marie-Philip Poulin that made the difference for Canada. Ahead 1-0 (on a goal by Sarah Nurse), Poulin scored with just under five minutes left in the opening period and then tallied another before the midway mark of the second to give the Canadians a comfortable 3-0 lead.

Hilary Knight scored a shorthanded goal with 3:21 left in the second to put the Americans on the board. That score held until the final moments of the game, when a flurry of activity — with the goalie pulled — resulted in a goal by Amanda Kessel to make it 3-2 with 13.5 seconds remaining. But the Americans ran out of time, and Canada held on to claim the gold. Ann-Renee Desbiens made 38 saves in the Canada net.

And as the horn sounded, Shelton and her 22 teammates celebrated all over the ice in China, winners on the biggest stage in international play. For Shelton, it was yet another dream come true — less than five weeks after achieving the dream of making Canada’s Olympic team in the first place. Playing within Canada’s centralization camp for weeks, the 24-year-old worked extremely hard to earn a spot on the squad. And when she did?

“I remember feeling my heart fluttering, tears in my eyes, and my brain just jumbled with emotions,” Shelton told Gameday London prior to departing fo Beijing. “I’m so honoured to play with this team and represent Canada.”

(Photo: Hockey Canada Images).

And she represented Canada well.

Though she didn’t see action in the gold-medal contest, Shelton played in the previous six games in the tournament. She was a plus-eight and tallied three assists — all coming in Canada’s first two preliminary games. Canada went 4-0 in preliminary play, outscoring their opponents 33-5 in the four games before cruising to easy wins over Sweden (11-0) and Switzerland (10-3) in the quarterfinals and semis, respectively. 

Canada’s win Wednesday returned Olympic gold to the country for the first time since they won it all at the 2014 Games in Sochi, Russia. The U.S. had taken that title away with a shootout win in the final of the 2018 Games in PyeongChang, South Korea.

Shelton, one of seven defensemen on Canada’s roster, was one of 23 players overall to be presented with a gold medal in the post-game ceremonies in Beijing.

The 24-year-old played much of her formative hockey years in the Forest City, spending three years with the London Devilettes’ junior team before heading to Clarkson University on scholarship, where she won a couple of NCAA championships, captained the team in her senior year, and was a finalist for the conference’s best defenseman award.

She began her career with Hockey Canada at the 2018 Nations Cup as part of the U22 national development team. Making the senior team for the 2021 IIHF Women’s World Championship in Calgary in August, she scored her first international goal in a 5-1 win over Russia in round robin play in that tournament, which the Canadians went on to win against the United States (3-2).

Perhaps it was a bit of deja vu for Shelton on Wednesday as she became a champion again. But this time it was an Olympic champion — and it doesn’t get any bigger than that.