SWISS DISMISSED: Canada books its ticket to final and a U.S. showdown

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CALGARY – A couple of years have elapsed since Canada has had the opportunity to prove its worth on the women’s world hockey stage.

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The team gets that chance on Tuesday.

Canada advanced to the 2021 IIHF championship final by beating Switzerland 4-0 in their semifinal on Monday at WinSport. Canada will now meet the U.S. in the gold medal tilt – no surprise there – which is slated for Tuesday.

“It would mean the world,” Canadian forward Melodie Daoust smiled, thinking about the big prize. “We’ve been waiting for this moment for way too long and we’re really excited to get going tomorrow.”

The Americans defeated a game Finland squad in their semi, to the tune of 3-0.

“We’re excited for the opportunity that’s in front of us,” echoed Canada’s head coach Troy Ryan.

In their round-robin meeting, Canada had blanked the Swiss 5-0 and you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who thought this game would go any differently. In the end, save for one less goal, it did not.

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“I’m so proud of this group and we’ve worked really hard to get to where we are and we’re right where we want to be,” noted defenceman Renata Fast, “but we’re not done yet.”

Canada buzzed around the Swiss net from the opening faceoff and thus it was totally expected that they would score first. By the 6:52 mark, Canada was up 2-0, Fast and Daoust, with her first of two on the night, tallying. Rebecca Johnston rounded out the scoring late in the third.

Daoust was buoyed by her biggest fan, her 3A1/2-year-old son, in the stands cheering her on.

“He’s the reason I’m here and I want to prove to him that if you have a dream in mind you want to go until the end for it and I hope he’s going to be proud of me,” Daoust said.

Canada infiltrated the Swiss end with relative ease all game long and finished up with 65 shots on Andrea Braendli, while her teammates managed just 10 on Ann-Renee Desbiens in a rather toothless attack. It was Canada’s third shutout of the tournament.

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“They were really good with the puck,” marvelled Swiss captain Lara Stalder. “We had some chances but in the end they’re a really good team, they like to share the puck and their D is really active, too, so it’s hard to get out of our own zone.”

The Swiss players attempted to get to the Canadians quickly but the latter were able to use their greater skill to find seams and create opportunities. Occasionally the Swiss had a foray of their own into the opposition zone, but more often than not they were pounced upon by cat-like Canadian defenders.

Canada will attempt to win its first world gold medal since 2012, the past five going to the U.S. In what they hope will be a harbinger, Canada throttled the Americans 5-1 in their round-robin outing.

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“I think there are some good things that came out of that game but I think there are still plenty of things we have to improve on,” said Ryan. “We expect them to be better and we expect ourselves to be better.”

“Here’s the thing, I really believe we just wanted to get to the championship game,” said U.S. head coach Joel Johnson. “We’re not spending a lot of time thinking back. We’ll go back and scout that game and make sure if there’s anything we can learn from that group stage game.

“We’re having success. I don’t know if firing on all cylinders is possible, but I feel we’re as close to it as we’ve been all tournament.”

The U.S. had a slightly tougher opponent on its hands. They outshot the Finns 15-4 in the first, but nothing that goalie Anni Keisala couldn’t handle. It was the Finns who had some near misses, including a goalpost late in the period. Finland also had a 5-on-3, but failed to register a shot.

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The U.S. stormed out of the gate in the second and it was a Lee Stecklein point shot that was tipped past Keisala by Alex Carpenter at 3:23.

The entire period was played virtually in the Finnish end and eventually Abbey Murphy drove to the front of the net and pushed the puck by Kiesala.

In the last five minutes of the game, Finnish head coach Pasi Mustonen repeatedly took his goalie out for an extra attacker in the hopes of putting a dent in the U.S. lead, but it was captain Kendall Coyne Schofield who sealed the deal with an empty-netter.

The fifth-place game between ROC and Japan also goes Tuesday, while the bronze medal decider features Finland and Switzerland.

mingojohnson@shaw.ca

@RitaMingo