SOCHI SCENE: American disbelief

SOCHI, Russia – The American women's hockey team was 3:26 seconds away from its first Olympic gold medal since 1998. Then everything went wrong.

The Canadians got on the board when a shot deflected off Team USA's Kacey Bellamy and past Jesse Vetter to make the score 2-1.

Two minutes later, the U.S. had a chance to seal the victory when Canada pulled its goaltender and Kelli Stack's shot started rolling toward the goal. But the puck hit the left post with 1:14 to play, keeping Canada alive.

Marie-Philip Poulin scored with 55 seconds to go to tie the game and got the game-winner in overtime on a power play to win Canada's fourth straight gold medal in the event.

Tears flowed on the American side and the team stood on the ice in stunned disbelief as they watched the Canadians celebrate.

— By Jon Krawczynski — Twitter http://twitter.com/APKrawczynski

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Associated Press reporters are filing dispatches about happenings in and around Sochi during the 2014 Winter Games. Follow AP journalists covering the Olympics on Twitter: http://apne.ws/1c3WMiu