Canadian women dominate Swiss to reach another Olympic ice hockey final
The Canadian women’s ice hockey team reached their seventh Olympic final after a lopsided 10-3 semi-final win over Switzerland at the National Indoor Stadium set up a date in the gold-medal game with either Team USA or Finland.
Ice Hockey
The result was never really in doubt.
Despite holding the Canadians scoreless for the first seven minutes, Switzerland still suffered a 10-3 loss against the four-time Olympic champions, who came into the game runaway favourites to reach the gold medal match of these 2022 Beijing Olympic Winter Games.
"It's really exciting. It's hard not to think too far ahead so today was a big step for us," said Canada's Rebecca Johnston who's now heading for her fourth straight Olympic final. "Every game is a stepping stone in the right direction, hoping we improve, get better each and every game to be ready for that final.
"That gold medal is definitely on our mind," added the former Cornell University standout. "That's something we want to accomplish."
The Canadians got their first goal from Claire Thompson when the defender’s sizzling slapshot from the point went in off the Swiss post. The scorer turned provider on the next goal, just a little over a minute later, when her nifty stickhandling on the right side opened up a gap for Jamie Lee Rattray, who fired the puck high into the Swiss net.
From there on out, the floodgates opened. The Canadians finished the first period up 5-1 (with further goals from Blayre Turnbull, Erin Ambrose and Renata Fast) with the only bright moment of the opening period for the Swiss coming via Lara Stalder, who scored from a tricky angle in the final minute of the opening period.
The Swiss put up stiff resistance in spurts in the second period and added two more goals from Stalder and Alina Muller (only the eighth goals conceded by the Canadians in five games in Beijing -- while they've scored 54). The North Americans, however, had goals of their own with Marie-Philip Poulin (2) and Emily Clark making sure Canada went into the final period with a commanding 8-3 lead.
There were more goals to come in the final period as Canada's fourth line poured on the pressure. Emma Maltais and Brianne Jenner added to their tallies to see the final score settle at 10-3 in favour of the Canadians.
The Canadians will know their opponent for the final scheduled for 17 February later today when the United States – the defending Olympic champions – take on Finland in the other semi-final. The United States and Canada have met in every women’s Olympic ice hockey final save one, at Torino 2006, when Sweden snuck into the gold medal game of Torino 2006.
"We've got one game left and we're hoping to carry it through to the end," said Canada's Thompson, who opened the scoring in the semi-final. "We just want to keep things rolling and we're just excited to get to play in the finals."
The Swiss, for their part, will look to rebound in the bronze medal game scheduled for 16 February, against the loser of the USA-Finland semi. Switzerland’s best-ever Olympic finish came at Sochi in 2014 when they scooped the bronze.
"There's good things that we can take with us from this game," said Stalder, two-goal scorer for the Swiss on the night. "In the second period I thought we battled well and that's a positive for the next game."