Canada dumps Finland; will face U.S. for gold
PLYMOUTH, Mich. (AP) — Marie Philip Poulin dashed Finland’s hopes of pulling off another upset.
Poulin had a goal and an assist in the second period, helping Canada pull away and beat the Finns 4-0 on Thursday night in the women’s hockey world championship semifinals.
“We knew they weren’t going to give up and had to keep pressure on them,” she said. “We had two big goals in that period to give us a 3-0 lead. We wanted the energy to keep going. We had a good start, which has been lacking the last couple of games.”
The Canadians will face the U.S. tonight in the championship game. The Americans beat Germany 11-0 on Thursday in their semifinal.
Finland handed Canada a stunning setback in group play with a 4-3 win, but couldn’t duplicate the result.
“We were lucky the score was as close as it was early in the game,” Finland coach Pasi Mustonen said. “They were very motivated to have a strong start, and they did.”
The Canadians were in control from start to finish in the rematch. It didn’t show up on the scoreboard, though, until late in the first period when Sarah Potomak lifted a shot over Noora Raty’s blocker.
“We wanted to come out fast, and that goal was huge for us to get it on the board,” said Potomak.
Emily Clark added an empty-net goal with 4:29 left and Shannon Szabados wasn’t tested much during a 23-save shutout.
“Every time you start with a tough start, that’s when you get stronger as a team,” Poulin said. “That’s what we did. We went through adversity and we knew it wasn’t going to be easy. It’s the women’s world championship and every team, they’re here to win that gold medal.”