Canada and USA with perfect start

There were heated discussions in the time between the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and the current 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi if women's hockey actually deservs a spot in the Olympic calendar. This was a result of the heavy overweight of active female players in North Ameria (150,000 in USA and Canada combined) vs roughly 20,000 in the rest of the world and thus the superiority of the American and Canadian hockey programs. In all 15 editions of the IIHF World Championships either Canada or the USA won gold and while one team won the highest reward the other team ended up winning silver in every occasion. Also only once during Olympics Sweden was able to get the silver medal while Team USA "only" went home with bronze.  

A change in the playing format was meant to close the gap between the two women's hockey super powers and the rest of nations at least a bit. Today's matches still showed the dominance of the North Americans but they also gave a signal of hope as the results get smaller. Now the best 4 teams play in group A whose two first-placed teams reach the semifinals directly while the other two teams of group A and the two best teams of group B play in the quarterfinals first!

USA - Finland 3-1 (1-0, 2-0, 0-1)

The Finnish game plan "defense first" was overthrown already in the very first minute. Just 53 seconds were played when Finnish defender Emma Terho's misdirected pass at the own blue line gave Hilary Knight a break away which she used to beat goalie Noora Räty from short distance! The Americans continued with heavy pressure while the Fins were dangerous with counter attacks from time to time and stabilized in defense which they crowned by killing two penalties in the first 20 minutes.

At the start of the middle period the Finnish women increase their efforts in offense which made possible big scoring opportunities on both sides. One of them was used by the Americans in the 28th minute but the way how the goal happend was rather unusual. After winning a face off in the Finnish third, a shot hit the boards behind the net and then the rebound hit the chest of Kelli Stack who battled the puck in out of the air just like a baseball player from short distance! After killing another penalty during a crucial time the Fins were able to keep the match a bit more even until Alex Carpenter added goal number three for Team USA in the 36th minute, using their 4th power play for their first goal with a woman more on the ice. Anne Schleper's blue line shot missed the net to the right but the rebound from the boards was put over the goal line from just right to the net and with a very sharp angle with a wonderful back hand goal by the just mentioned Carpenter - no chance for the very solid Noora Räty between the pipes.

In the third period the American side slowed down the speed a bit but still they managed to get a series of high-calibre chances. Especially Amanda Kessel, sister of Toronto Maple Leaf's star forward Phil Kessel, wasted best opportunities. First she was denied with a back hander from short distance and then she deked out Räty after skating from the right circle with a fast move to the left just to miss the wide open net by not hitting the puck well! With about five minutes left on the clock Amanda Kessel was again in the centre of attraction but this time she did everything right but her perfect cross-pass in a 2-on-1 situation for Megan Bozek stayed without the wished result as Bozek slipped on the ice just inches in front of the net! A penalty against the very active and hard-working Brianna Decker for hooking at 54:57 was punished by the Finnish power play just 25 seconds later when Susanna Tapani ended a fast combination after waiting alone at the left post.

In the end Finland tried it without goalie during the last minutes but couldn't force the equalizer anymore. Despite 43-15 shots on goal the Americans weren't able to get a higher result mostly due to the great performance by goalie Räty.   
 
Canada - Switzerland 5-0 (2-0, 3-0, 0-0)

Despite the Swiss team being part of the top group of women's hockey, the gap between the young Swiss team and the far more experienced Canadians is still huge! Before this match the Swiss team had an 0-0-5 record against the Canadians with 1-50 goals so that really nobody expected points from them today. Still the Swiss women were able to set two new records thanks to a stellar 64 save performance by their goalie Florence Schelling who in the media was described with good reason as the star of the team.

When the Finnish side looked at least stable in defense during long parts of the game, the Swiss side was completely helpless against the skilled and experienced Canadian opponents. Just 1:25 were played when Jocelyne Larocque beat Schelling with a blue line shot through the five hole. The Canadians were always at least one step ahead and even had 3-on-1 attacks in the first minutes of the game whenever the Swiss weren't able to come back into their own third in time! The space Canada was left was punished very soon when Tara Watchorn used a rebound following a sequence of chances in the 7th minute. Already after 20 minutes the shots were 29-3 in favour of Canada but again and again Schelling made big saves, the two best of them against Brianne Jenner.

In the middle period Switzerland started a bit more aggressive and soon they were rewarded with their first power play after Lauriane Rougeau received two minutes for high-sticking. The following power play though decided the game as Swiss defender Nicole Bullo tried to give the puck to her colleague in defense in front of the own net with a risky back hand pass through her own legs whch ended in front of Canadian star forward Hayley Wickenheiser who punished the following break away with a shot into the right top corner! The Europeans still were active in offense and had their best chance of the game when Phoebe Stanz hit the crossbar with a shot from the right circle in the 29th minute. Another 3-on-1 attack for Canada ended with a better result for them than the first time and Marie-Philip Poulin scored with a one-timer into the right corner with assists by Jayna Hefford and Rebecca Johnston. This forced Swiss head coach Rene Kammerer to take a timeout which didn't help immidiately. Instead it was Rebecca Johnston who deflected a pass from the left circle past Schelling from short distance at 36:10. The goal was given only after the video review for a possible check from behind against a Swiss defender but in the end the goal counted!

In the last 20 minutes the situation was very similar to the previous two periods but Switzerland and especially Florence Schelling did everything possible to avoid a debacle - with success! The 5-0 was the lowest loss Switzerland every received against Canada and for the first time they were able to keep them shut out in a period.

Tomorrow the tournament continues with the group B:

09.00 CET Sweden - Japan
14.00 CET Russia - Germany

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