Switzerland National Women’s Hockey Team – Page 2

The table is set. Dinner is ready. Time to feast on four fantastic women’s games in the quarter-finals. Winners will be competing for a medal after the semi-finals. Losers? Well, you know the drill. They go home.

USA vs. Czechia

The History: This will be the first ever meeting between the teams at either the Olympics or Women’s Worlds.

USA: The Americans might be smarting a bit form their 4-2 loss to Canada on Tuesday, but by the time of puck drop for this game their only emotion will be determination and resolve to make it to the gold-medal game. Apart from that score, they have done everything right. Coach Joel Johnson has used all three of his goalies, and they have combined to allow just six goals in four games. Up front, Amanda Kessel leads the team with six points and Alex Carpenter has four goals. Oddly, the U.S. is last in penalties, having taken only nine minors, but they have also surrendered three goals on seven chances. No matter how you slice it, however, the Americans are overwhelming favourites.

Czechia: The Czechs are happy to be here. This is their first Olympics, and they have surprised fans by winning two games, losing to Denmark, 3-2, and losing to Japan in a shootout. They have scored only ten goals in four games and have yet to score even once on the power play. Tereza Vanisova leads the team with five points, but overall the scoring is spread thin. Goalie Klara Peslarova has played in all four games and has a sparkling 1.18 GAA, but her life is about to get a lot busier now that Czechia is playing a Group A nation. It will take a miracle for the Czechs to win this game, but a QF appearance is a very respectable result for the team all the same.

Quotable: “We will put up a good fight. We have never played the U.S., and it will be a good challenge. They are a great team. We have to stick to our playbook to have a chance of success.”—Czech forward Alena Mills

Canada vs. Sweden

The History: Canada has won all five Olympics meetings by a cumulative score of 41-6, including a 4-1 win in the gold-medal game in Turin in 2006 and a 13-1 win in 2010, their most recent Olympics meeting. In World Women’s play, they are 9-0 against Sweden, but amazingly they have not played in WW since 2009.

Canada: What can you say about the current Women’s World gold medallists? They are firing on all cylinders. Their 4-0 record here in Beijing is by a cumulative score of 33-5. Goalie Ann-Renee Desbiens has been fantastic, especially against the United States when she stopped 51 of 53 shots. Up front, Canada boasts the top seven scorers, led by Natalie Spooner with 11 points and Sarah Fillier and Brianne Jenner with five goals each. Their one weakness to date is that they have incurred 24 penalties, second-most in the tournament, but they have allowed only two power-play goals against while scoring six. This is a team that can do it all, and as with the first QF, a loss here would constitute a staggering upset.

Sweden: Never having beaten Canada and most recently having been demoted to Division I-A, the Swedes are also happy to be here. They are a young and emerging team with a bright future. Emma Soderberg is clearly the goalie of the future, as are young stars like 19-year-old Linnea Johansson and 21-year-old Maja Nylen-Persson. The team, however, has scored only seven goals and generated only 109 shots through four games. To the good, they have yet to surrender a power-play goal against. Nevertheless, they will need a “mirakel” to advance further.

Quotable: “It couldn’t feel better. I don’t think many people would believe we’d stand here in a quarter-final. Now we’ll just go for it. I’m so proud of this team. It’s a tough game. It is not beautiful, but we made it.”—Swedish forward Michelle Lowenhielm.

ROC vs. Switzerland

The History: The teams have each won two games of four previous matchups at the Olympics, while ROC/Russia holds a 6-3-1 advantage in Women’s Worlds play. More important, however, Switzerland rallied to beat ROC 3-2 in overtime at the 2021 WW, but a week ago they lost 5-2 at the start of this preliminary round.

ROC: ROC has to feel good about its win over Switzerland on 4 February. They took a 2-2 game and scored three unanswered goals to win in their most offensive game so far. Their goaltending has been spotty, though. It would be unreasonable for coach Yevgeni Bobariko to rely on 17-year-old Daria Gredzen, but the other two—Valeria Merkusheva and Maria Sorokina—have not had strong tournaments to date. But perhaps the biggest concern for ROC is the changeability of their lineup. They have been severely hampered by absent players and have produced a different roster for each game. Who will play in this game? Not even Bobariko knows at this point.

Switzerland: The flip side to the earlier game is that the Swiss rallied from 1-0 and 2-1 down to tie the game early in the second period, only to let it slip away. And they have a top line of captain Lara Stalder, Alina Muller, and Phoebe Stanz that has been playing well. Andrea Brandli has been steady, although busy, in the Swiss goal, but scoring has been their downfall. They had only three goals in their first three games, all losses, and managed to equal that number in an important 3-2 win over Finland last Monday. If they can get an early goal, play solid defence, and be the better team on special teams, they’ll have a great chance of moving on.

Quotable: “Against Switzerland we capitalized on our chances. Against Finland we didn’t manage to score. We have to calm down a bit, and we need to score goals to be able to play a good game.”—ROC captain Anna Shokina.

Finland vs. Japan

The History: The Finns have won the only three meetings between the teams in women’s hockey, starting with an 11-1 thumping at the Nagano Olympics and followed by 1-0 and 6-1 wins at the Women’s Worlds.

Finland: The Finns had a terrible start, losing three in a row before righting the ship with an impressive 5-0 win over the short-handed ROC. They have a great goalie in Anni Keisala, but she has been inconsistent. At the back end, they have Jenni Hiirkoski, who can play half a game at full effectiveness, and up front they have the firepower to put the puck in the net. Their top scorer is Susanna Tapani, with three goals, all on the power play. In all, they have six goals with the extra skater, tied with Canada for most in the tournament. This should be a Finland win, but given their rough start and the good play of Japan, nothing can be taken for granted.

Japan: Japan finished first in Group B with three wins and a shootout loss, the same as at last year’s Women’s Worlds in Calgary, their best preliminary round ever. And they did so with fine goaltending from Nana Fujimoto, who has played almost the entire tournament to date, She has allowed only five goals and has a sparkling 1.25 GAA. Haruka and Ayaka Toko have led the offense, scoring four of the team’s 13 goals. They have also excelled in special teams, being last in penalties taken, and among the best in terms of penalty killing and power play effectiveness.

Quotable: “They will be a tough opponent. They are skillful; they skate well; they seem to have a good team spirit. We have to analyze them. We have two days off now and need to focus on them and our own team and make a plan to beat them.”—Finland coach Juuso Toivola.

Source: iihf.com

A devastating attacking display from Team USA secured the Americans’ biggest victory at these Games to date. After blasting five unanswered goals in the first period, this was a case of ‘how many?’ for the defending champion as Switzerland struggled to come up with any answers to the speed and accuracy of the U.S. forwards.

There were two goals apiece for Hilary Knight, Jesse Compher and Kelly Pannek, with Amanda Kessel and Dani Cameranesi also on the scoresheet in an emphatic 8-0 victory.

Both teams handed first starts to their goalies today. For Team USA, Alex Cavallini got the nod. The 30-year-old was on the golden roster in PyeongChang but did not play in the 2018 Games. Today she made her Olympic debut, following Maddie Rooney and Nicole Hensley onto the ice in Beijing. Switzerland, meanwhile, rotated Andrea Brandli out of the firing line after allowing 17 goals in the first two games. Saskia Maurer, a 20-year-old who plays for University of St. Thomas in the NCAA, stepped in for her first taste of Olympic action – and endured a baptism of fire at the hands of a rampant American offence.

The first power play of the game saw Knight open the scoring. Her net drive saw Maurer block the initial shot but the rebound went back to the experienced forward, who switched from backhand to forehand before finding the top shelf. The pressure on the Swiss net was constant and by the end of the first period the floodgates were open. On 14:04, Compher potted her second goal in two days, rifling home a one-timer from between the hash marks. Nine seconds later Knight got her second of the game, catching Maurer unawares with an instinctive snipe from out on the left-hand boards.

And the goals kept coming. Team USA was circling the Swiss zone at will and Pannek stepped in from the right-hand boards to shoot home before the dot. Late in the frame, another power play saw Kessel squeeze the puck past Maurer from a tight angle.

After facing 22 shots in that opening frame, Maurer was retired from the game and Brandli returned to action in the second period. Initially, this offered little change in the game, with Pannek grabbing her second of the night just two minutes into the session. However, Switzerland began to put some obstacles in the way of the American offence and even created a good chance of its own. Lara Stadler, the Swiss attacking spark so far in Beijing, released Phoebe Staenz with a long pass. Staenz executed a neat interchange with Alina Muller but her shot found Cavallini’s pads. There was a further opportunity for Switzerland when Abby Roque took a penalty – a call that drew vehement protests from the American forward – but the PK was resolute.

At the other end, though, Brandli was performing wonders to keep the scoreline down. She stopped 22 shots in the middle session but had no answer when Compher decided to go it alone late in the frame to add a seventh.

Knight was close to a hat-trick early in the third after strong play from Kendall Coyne Schofield, but Brandli’s pad denied the U.S. alternate captain on that occasion. The Swiss goalie continued to impress in the closing stages, notably with a triple save to deny Abbey Murphy, but even she had no answer when Pannek’s pass picked out Cameranesi all alone in front of the net to complete the scoring late on.

Switzerland will look to find positives in the way it slowed the American scoring late in the game. The next action for Colin Muller’s team is against Finland in its final group game. For Team USA, meanwhile, the next game renews its rivalry with Team Canada in a clash that will decide the battle for top spot in Group A.

Source: iihf.com