Finland almost with sensation against Canada

USA - Switzerland 9-0 (5-0, 1-0, 3-0)

The young Swiss team started well-organized in defense but 3 fast goals in less than a minute between 09:20 and 10:15 let the favourites from the United States decide the game very early. Monique Lamoureux, Brianna Decker and Amanda Kessel had used the shock of the Swiss defense who gave them far too much space. Bitter also that the first two goals went through the five hole of a till then unlucky Swiss goalie Florence Schelling who was the star of the previous game against Canada on Saturday despite the 0-5 loss. The Americans now had chances by the minute. One of them was used by Hilary Knight who scored via back hander from short distance at 14:23 after Schelling failed to get the puck away with her goalie stick from the goalie crease. In power play Amanda Kessel added another one via one-timer before the first intermission.

In a middle period that lacked real highlights the Lamoureux sisters made it half a dozen at 33:26. With a pass from behind the net Jocelyn gave an assist for her sister Monique whose well-placed shot from the right circle found its way into the right corner past the surprised Florence Schelling who didn't get the glove hand up in time! Only then the Americans invested more again but wasted even best chances in the remaining time of the period.

With the start of the third period there was a lot of confusion in the game. Kendall Coyne had tried it with a wrap around after 40 seconds which crossed the goal line just by inches and the refeeres hadn't seen if the puck was in or not. Half a minute later Amanda Kessel was already celebrating her hat trick when she also scored but the video review convinced the referees to give the first goal and make Kessel's hat trick null and void. Another goal by Coyne and a break away by Alex Carpenter made it a 9-0 - the highest loss for the Swiss team at Olympics. It was Molly Schaus' turn in the US goal according to the team's rotation and she recorded a shutout that barely was ever in danger.

With this win the US team not only conquered the first spot in the group A standings but they also go as favourites into the final group match against Canada.

Canada - Finland 3-0 (0-0, 0-0, 3-0)

For almost 50 minutes a hard-working Finnish team was able to keep Team Canada scoreless but then the inidivudal class and the pressure of the North Americans became just too big for them. In the first two periods Canada was already the dominating power on the ice but they failed to use one of their many, many chances against a once more great Finnish goalie Noora Räty. Around "half time" it became more and more clear that this would not be the easy task the Canadians had expected and the experienced Canadian players became rather nervous in their attacks. Finland even had several good counter opportunities to take the lead themselves and their goalie Shannon Szabados was in the centre of attraction regularly. She had substituted Charline Labonte, the goalie in game 1 against Switzerland.

With the start of the third period Canada worked even harder and at 41:03 Marie-Philip Poulin was only stopped by the left goal post in her scoring attempt from the left circle! A few minutes later the nervosity of the Canadians became evident when Szabados almost let in a harmless high clearance by the Fins, failing to controll the puck that just stopped in front of the goalie crease. A hard body check into the boards by Finland's Emma Terho against Jennifer Wakefield then would bring the turnover in the game. The following power play was used by Meghan Agosta who first failed with a powerful shot from the right circle but then was able to get the following rebound and fire the puck just below the crossbar from within the slot for the long expected 1-0! An individual effort by Jayna Hefford who deked out several opponents before beating Räty into the right top corner three minutes later made everything clear. Canada now found back to the own self confidence and a fast combination between one of their top lines added the 3:0. Jayna Hefford deked out several opponents in the neutral zone and found Marie-Philip Poulin at the Finnish blue line who gave a well-timed pass to the left for Rebecca Johnston who scored easily into the left bottom corner!

For Canada who beat Switzerland 5-0 and Finland 3-0, the last group match against the USA on Wednesday will show where they truly stand right now.  

Tomorrow group B sides Sweden and Russia can complete the quarterfinals with wins against Germany and Japan.

11.00 CET Germany - Sweden

16.00 CET Russia - Japan

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