Canada - USA......as usual

 In a re-run of the Olympic women's ice hockey final in Vancouver four years ago, Canada will face USA in Thursday's final after both teams after both teams have won semifinals against Switzerland and Sweden despite amazing performance by goaltenders

The semifinal between USA and Sweden proved to be a devastating blow to all those thinking that the rest of the women's hockey world has tightened the gap to US and Canada. Without losing much sweat USA won the game 6-1. "It was a formidable team effort," said Amanda Kessel. "That's been our focus all along. When we get it right like we did today it is difficult for anyone to play against us. That's what we have worked for. I saw my brother Phil (Phil Kessel, USA forward) score a hat-trick last night and that was awesome. It was an inspiration to me. He's my favourite player. There is definitely room for two gold medals in the family. I guess we would have to keep them in a safe somewhere if we both win gold."

USA held a tight grip on the first period from the first second to the last, stacked up a shots advantage of 29-1, for a match total of 70-9, and only inspired play from Sweden's goaltender Valentina Wallner held USA from scoring more than three goals in the first period.

Alex Carpenter made it 1-0 after 6:10. Kelli Stacktook the puck into the offensive zone, circled the goal and passed to Carpenter in front of Wallner. Kacey Bellamy followed up after 7:16 when she slapped a puck from the blue line past Swedish goalie. At 11:19 Amanda Kessel scored the third from a pile of players in front of the Swedish net. Pernilla Winberg took the lone Swedish shot of the period on a powerplay. USA then had a 26-0 shot advantage. Wallner made the save of the night to start off the second period, a glove save on Monique Lamoreux who was alone in front of the net after close to 3 minutes of play. But Lamoreux had her goal when she shot to make it 4-0 at 5:41, with six players obstructing Wallner's view.
Megan Bozek made it 5-0 with a slapshot from the blue line with teammate Lyndsey Fry in front of Wallner. Sweden head coach Niclas Hogberg pulled his starting goalie after 12:31 and Kim Martin Hansson held the US scoreless for the rest of the period and until to 16:58 of the third when Brianna Decker's shot hit the crossbar and bounced off the skate of Swedish defenceman Emilia Aandersson into the goal. Martin Hansson also saved on a penalty shot taken by Jocelyne Lamoreaux. Anna Borgqvist scored the consolation goal for Sweden when she redirected Emma Eliassons shot from the blue line past Jessie Vetter at 13:04 of the third period.

USA advances to the gold medal match, Sweden will play for bronze.

Canada, 2010 Olympic champions,  had to work hard to overcome Switzerland and the splendid goaltending by Florence Schelling. Canada's Natalie Spooner opened the scoring. Firstly, after 07:29, she circled the Swiss goal and defenceman Angela Frautschi, and fired a surprising shot past Schelling. Then at 11:10, Spooner was at it again when, in front of the net and in power play, she redirected Catherine Ward's shot for 2-0. Then 23 seconds later, Melodie Daoust made it 3-0. A bad bounce off Schelling's left pad left the puck roughly 10cm from the goalline, and gave Daoust no problems poking it into the net. Jessica Lutz narrowed the Canadian lead to 3-1 after 5:14 of the second period when Canada's goaltender Shannon Szabados left her an empty net: in a chaotic situation in front of goal, Szabados held on to Swiss forward Sara Benz's stick and was taken for a ride behind the goal. She didn't make it back in time to stop Lutz from scoring.
Switzerland levelled the play in the third period, but Canada still created the best scoring chances. Schelling made a series of terrific saves to deny Marie-Philip Poulin, Rebecca Johnston, Brianne Jenner, Meghan Agosta and Spooner, twice. Schelling made 45 saves in total, 19 less than she made in the preliminary group game against Canada, which Switzerland lost 5-0.

"We came out really strong and I think that was what caught them by surprise," said Canada's Spooner. "It was great to score my two goals, especially against such a great goalie.They are always a tough team and I was pleased that we played so well against such a good team. This is just a building block for us. In the final we are going to play hard through all three periods."

 

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