Winter Olympics Women's Hockey Tournament – Page 2

Finland defeated Switzerland, 4-0, tonight at Wukesong Sports Centre to win its fourth Olympic bronze medal. They scored at even strength, short-handed, and two on the power play, and were masterful at shutting down the top Swiss trio all game long.

And they won in a manner similar to Canada’s men at last year’s World Championship–taking a medal after losing the first three games of the tournament. Just as special, coach Juuso Toivala arrived in Beijing as an assistant coach but had to take over after Pasi Mustonen was forced home to deal with a family emergency. Toivola coached the 2011 Finnish U18 women’s team to bronze and now joins a small group of coaches to win women’s medals at two events.

It was the first ever meeting between the teams for bronze, although previously the Finns had finished third three times (1998, 2010, 2018) and Switzerland once (2014).

For Finland, the win means Jenni Hiirikoski and Michelle Karvinen are now the most decorated European women at the Olympics in hockey, both having won three medals.

Anni Keisala stopped only 15 shots for the shutout while Andrea Braendli was sensational in the Swiss net, facing 47 shots.

While the Finns rolled over four lines and produced a balanced attack, the Swiss had only one line to rely on–Alina Muller-Lara Stalder-Phoebe Stanz. In fact, that line accounted for 10 of the team’s 13 goals in Beijing, and coach Colin Muller played Alina Muller and Stalder as much as he could. It just wasn’t enough, and the Finns were letter perfect inside their own blue line.

It was clear from the outset this would be a closely-fought game, and in the early going the Swiss looked to be the better of the teams. They had more of the puck and territory, but they also couldn’t generate a clear scoring chance. When they got the first power play thanks to a Tanja Niskanen interference penalty on goalie Braendli, they did little, and Finland’s PK did a masterful job.

The game’s first goal came off the rush on a play that hardly looked dangerous. Elisa Holopainen carried the puck into the Swiss end and set up Noora Tulus for a shot. Braendli made the save but went down with a defender, and Viivi Vainikka knocked in the loose puck at 11:36.

The Finns then had a power play of their own which proved ineffective, but Switzerland couldn’t penetrate the Finnish end. Suomi took control of the game in the second, and it was only the superb goaltending of Braendli that kept this a one-goal game. Early on she stopped a Sanni Rantala point shot and then stoned Nelli Laitinen on the rebound. She made great saves on Holopainen and Vainikka, and when Sanni Hakala tried to jam the puck in, Braendli stood her ground. Vainikka and Laitinen then worked a two-on-one beautifully, but again the goalie was there to stop the Laitinen shot.

All the while the Swiss couldn’t muster any offence. Colin Muller double-shifted Muller and Stalder, giving them different linemates, but they couldn’t get near Keisala’s net. And then in a flash, the Swiss had their best chance of the game. The puck bounced over the stick of Minnamari Tuominen at the Switzerland blue line, and Lena-Marie Lutz skated the length of the ice on a clear break. She didn’t get her shot high enough, though, and Keisala got her glove out to make the critical save.

Shots through two periods favoured Finland by a whopping 34-9 margin, but it was still just a 1-0 game. Early in the third, however, they doubled their lead with a key short-handed goal. A penalty for too many skaters against the Finns gave the Siwss just the chance they needed to get back in the game, but it was Finland that scored.

Sinja Leeman lost the puck at the Finland blue line and Susanna Tapani took the puck up ice on a two-on-one with Petra Nieminen, only Nicole Vallario back. When Vallario slid to take away the pass across, Tapani wired a shot over Braendli’s shoulder at 3:24, her sixth goal of the Olympics. That was the dagger to the Swiss heart.

Eight years ago, the Swiss overcame a two-goal deficit in the third against Sweden to win bronze. Not so this year. Laitinen added a third goal at 14:24 on a power play, her big blast beating Braendli over the glove and putting the game out of reach.

Michelle Karvinen closed out the scoring with another power-play goal with only 56.6 seconds remaining.

Source: iihf.com

By JOHN WAWROW. Associated Press

United States' Hayley Scamurra (16) is congratulated after scoring a goal against Finland during a women's semifinal hockey game at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Monday, Feb. 14, 2022, in Beijing. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

BEIJING (AP) — American assistant captain Hilary Knight calls it “a beautiful rivalry.” Canadian captain Marie-Philip Poulin sums it up as “very fun.”

Don’t be fooled by the pleasantries.

One of international sports’ fiercest and longest-running grudge matches will play out for the second time at the Beijing Olympics, with the meeting Thursday between the United States and Canada determining who goes home with gold.

“These are the the games that we live for,” U.S. captain Kendall Coyne Schofield said following a 4-1 semifinal win over Finland. “Everyone’s been so resilient through the pandemic with the ups and downs, the cancellations, postponements and finding ways to train, and it’s for this moment. We’re going to empty the tanks, and this is what we came here to do.”

The U.S. is the defending Olympic champion after rallying to beat Canada 3-2 in a shootout at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.

The Canadians are considered the favorites this time after steamrolling to a 6-0 record and outscoring opponents 54-8, including a 4-2 win over the U.S. in group play.

Canada also had the edge over its cross-border rivals since Poulin scored the gold-medal-winning goal in a 3-2 overtime win over the U.S. at the world championships in August to end the Americans’ streak of five tournament titles. Canada is 5-1-1 in the past seven meetings against the U.S. since.

Overall at the Olympics, which added women’s hockey in 1988, Canada is 6-3 against the U.S., with four gold medals to the Americans’ two.

Success aside, the lingering memory of 2018 stings.

“In all honesty, it was very anti-climactic for us to lose in a shootout, because it didn’t feel as if you lost a game,” said Canada forward Sarah Nurse, who leads the tournament with 16 points on four goals and 12 assists. “It almost felt like unfinished business. So going into this gold-medal game, regardless of who we play, we’re here to finish business and win a hockey game.”

Nurse spoke following a 10-3 semifinal win over Switzerland, and before knowing who Canada would face.

It’s only fitting that it’s the U.S., with the two countries meeting for the sixth time in seven Olympic finals. The exception was 2006, when Canada won the final against Sweden, which beat the U.S. in the semifinals.

The game Thursday will mark the fourth time that the U.S. and Canada will have met twice in the same Olympic tournament. In the first two instances, the Americans (1998 Nagano) and Canadians (2014 Sochi) won both times. In 2018, the U.S. won the title after a 2-1 loss to Canada in group play.

The challenge for the Americans is containing Canada’s relentlessly dynamic, quick-strike transition attack, which scored five times in a first-period span of 3:24 against Switzerland to set an Olympic record for the fastest five goals. Against the Americans, Canada overcame a 2-1 deficit by scoring three times in a span of 5:25.

Switzerland coach Colin Muller said the Canadians’ rolling four-line attack is dizzying because they make it hard for opponents to change lines.

“They’re just so tenacious,” Muller said, blowing into his mask in awe. “Like if you told me who’s their best player, I don’t even know, really. I look at their lineup before the game and I’m going, ‘Well, what do you want to do?’”

U.S. coach Joel Johnson believes his team can compete, in part because it has yet to play its best game.

“When we played them the last time, I thought we were pretty good, but we didn’t generate enough great opportunities to score,” Johnson said.

Finishing chances has been an issue for the U.S., which ranks fifth out of 10 teams in scoring efficiency with 28 goals on a tournament-leading 334 shots. The Americans are also missing top-line center Brianna Decker, who broke her left leg in the tournament opener.

“I just feel really good about how we match up against Canada,” Johnson said. “I think if we can generate a few more scoring chances and make some plays, then that would hopefully be our best game.”

The Americans won’t go into detail, but they have a few grudges to settle. It’s evident when U.S. players reference the two nations’ nine-game pre-Olympic Rivalry Series being abruptly canceled with three game left because of Canada’s COVID-19 concerns.

What bugs the Americans is that they were preparing to play on home ice in Minnesota, with some 11,000 tickets sold, when the Canadians backed out at the last moment after Emily Clark tested positive.

And members of the U.S. team shook their heads at the drama Canada created upon refusing to take the ice for its preliminary round game against the Russians because their opponent’s COVID-19 tests results were not available. The start of the game was delayed by an hour and in jeopardy of being postponed, before the International Ice Hockey Federation reached a compromise to have the teams wear masks.

This is not how the Americans handled things, having no issue playing — and beating the Russians 5-0 — a day after an ROC player tested positive.

Every slight in this rivalry is taken personally, with each side paying close attention to what the other is doing.

“What do you want me to say?” Knight asked when the prospect of facing Canada once again was mentioned. “It gets the best and the worst out of both of us at the same time.”

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