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U.S. women’s captain Pfundt: tough to be disappointed when we played as hard as we did

10. 6. 2017 | Derek OBrien
Tiffany Pfundt was one of the leaders of Team USA at the Women’s Ball Hockey World Championship. The team was in the final for the first time ever, with Pfundt wearing the captain’s C on her jersey. With the team trailing 3-2 in the last two minutes of the third period, Pfundt went hard to the net to get to a rebound and put it in the net while falling to the floor.
 

After the game was over, the medals had been received and the last on-floor team pictures had been taken, there was a lot of emotion visible on the faces of the silver-medal-winning U.S. team. One of the most emotional players was Pfundt. When asked to articulate her emotions, she replied: “It might not make any sense, but I’ll try.”

What sense can you make of this crazy game?

“It was a crazy game. We played our hearts out, which is all we tried to do. Every shift was our focus, just one at a time. We battled and left it all out there. We really played for each other. I’ve never seen a group quite like this. It was fun on the floor and off. This is a bit of a blow to us right now and we’ll have some tears, but they’re going to be tears of joy because of what we’ve accomplished together.”

Are the tears right now more out of joy, as you described, or disappointment at being so close to gold?

“I don’t think there’s any disappointment. It’s tough to be disappointed when we played as hard as we did. We were in there, we were battling and we’ve done something that this program never has. I think it’s just that … when you’ve been through so much together as a group and you’re so close to accomplishing your goal, it’s hard to accept right away. But as I said, everyone left it out on the floor, and you can’t ask for anything more than that.”

In the semi-final against Canada and in the final against the Czechs, you were behind in the third period and came back to tie both games. You won yesterday and took the game today to overtime.

“We just believed. It comes down to believing in each other and believing that there’s no point that we’re out of it. We were right there today, but they got a lucky bounce at the end and that was the game. They’re a good team and I don’t take anything away from them, but we were in there every step of the way.”