Canada gets fired up for world women’s semifinal

CALGARY • There’s a constant spark emanating from Canada’s women’s national hockey team and, though he’s not about to compare, head coach Troy Ryan sees it and appreciates it.

“I can’t speak to a lot of teams in the past,” Ryan admitted, “but this group has played with a ton of energy. I think the mix of the young with some of the more experienced players ... it’s been a good mix. They seem to have ton of fun away from the rink. They just enjoy being together. When you have that, a lot of good can happen.”

A lot of good has happened for Canada at the 2021 IIHF women’s world championship, as in earning a berth in Monday’s semifinal (7 p.m. ET). The opponent for that one is Switzerland, winner of an entertaining overtime quarter-final against ROC (Russia). The Canadians and Swiss have already met at this event, with Canada emerging with a 5-0 victory after firing 63 shots at the Swiss net.

Canada is, without sounding too obvious, the favourite.

The Canadian squad has enjoyed offence from all quarters, and one line that sparkled in particular during Saturday’s quarter-final against Germany was the Melodie Daoust, Sarah Fillier and Natalie Spooner threesome, which combined for eight points.

“They’ve been playing fantastic, just a nice mix,” Ryan said. “It’s no secret Daoust plays with good poise and patience, has great hands and distributes the puck well. Natalie Spooner does a lot of the down low work and is prepared to occupy good space in front of the net and Sarah Fillier is a finisher that plays the game with speed. They’ve done well building some chemistry in a very short time.”

Fillier is one of eight players making their world championship debut for Canada. Daoust leads all players with 10 points in five games, with four goals and six assists.

Both teams feature very fine goaltending. Canada has the one-two punch of Emerance Maschmeyer (0.00 GAA) and Ann-renee Desbiens (1.67), while the Swiss will probably go with Saskia Maurer (1.56).

The semifinal between the U.S. and Finland — a 3 p.m. ET puck drop — will be a rematch of the gold-medal game at the 2019 world championship, which the U.S. won 2-1 in a shootout en route to their ninth title.

But Finnish head coach Pasi Mustonen doesn’t believe that will have any bearing.

“We’re motivated but I don’t believe it has anything to do with Espoo,” said Mustonen, alluding to the site of that tournament. “It was a bitter experience, but we don’t care who we play. We don’t think back that way.”

All eyes will be on the 16-year-old Sanni Vanhanen, who scored the winning goal in the quarter-final against the Czech Republic. She’s the youngest player in the tournament.

“Every move she makes is the right move,” explained Mustonen. “Her hockey IQ is at an extremely high level. As long as the flame inside burns ... she’ll be one of the top players in the world in 10 years’ time. We have a special talent.”

The tournament isn’t over for a couple more entrants.

ROC (Russian Olympic Committee) had to get over that disappointing loss to Switzerland to defeat Germany 3-2 on Sunday in their placement game.

Oxana Bratisheva scored the winning goal at 4:18 of the third period, handing the youthful ROC squad an opportunity to play for fifth spot on Tuesday morning.

Germany, which fielded just 15 skaters due to various injuries, finished the tournament in eighth spot.

The fifth-place game, slated for noon ET at Win Sport Arena, will pit the Russians against Japan.

The Czechs also had a crushing loss to rebound from, a 1-0 quarter-final setback at the hands of Finland on Saturday night, a game in which they were clearly the better squad.

They weren’t able to find their previous momentum, however, as a quick-skating Japan squad posted a 3-2 victory in their placement game.