Brianne Jenner and Sarah Nurse hit hattrick each as Canada women's ice hockey team marches on
Canada have beat Finland 11-1 in Game 2 to continue a smoking start to the Beijing 2022 Olympics, spirits are high and they're having fun.
Ice Hockey
Team Canada women's ice hockey team has made a spectacular start on their quest to take back gold from reigning champions USA.
They've followed up a 12-1 victory against Switzerland in Game 1 with an 11-1 thrashing of Finland on Saturday (5 February) and are in mean form.
A hattrick each from Brianne Jenner and Sarah Nurse helped the red-and-whites to another convincing victory.
“It’s nice when the bounces go your way," Jenner said after the match.
"It doesn’t always happen like that. I got choked a little bit because I missed a back door empty net then a bounce goes in and that’s the way it goes sometimes.
"I think when we’re generating that much offense as a team I think its bound to go in eventually so it’s always fun.”
Nurse said: “That game was a lot of fun. I had an injury this year and so that game was my second game in three months so it’s a huge testament to my coaching staff and my team mates that they had that believe in me to come back and make an impact so very grateful to be here and very grateful for them.
“Something our coaching staff has preached this year is being predictable to each other but unpredictable to the other team. We’re always chatting with each other, we’re always talking. It’s really simple.”
Sarah Fillier and Laura Stacey each scored twice for Canada as they improved to 2-0 in Pool A, while Jamie Lee Rattray also scored in the victory and Natalie Spooner had four assists.
'Keeper Ann-Renee Desbiens made 28 saves for her second win of the tournament.
Canada will play Russia on Monday and finish off the preliminary round on Tuesday with a big clash against reigning Olympic champs the United States.
Team Canada spirits high
"It sounds cheesy," says Jenner, "but we are a really tight knit group."
"We’ve been through a lot together to get to this point but we care about each other not just as team mates but as friends so it’s pretty fun to go through an experience like this once in a lifetime with people that are like family.”
“We’re always laughing, we’re always dancing, we have a lot of fun. So its easy when we get back to our apartments to forget about hockey and enjoy each other.
"Unfortunately a little bit less socializing because of the pandemic but we’re watching a lot of the other sports, cheering on the other Canadians."
So how do they pass the time?
"We play card games – we love Euchre. We’ve got puzzles, card games. You name it. Euchre – it’s the best card game, you gotta try it out!”