Less is more for Canada at worlds
• Canada is following the philosophy that less ice time is more as they prepare for their women’s world hockey championship semifinal game.
The Canadians went 2-1 in Pool A behind the United States at 3-0. Both countries secured byes to Friday’s semifinals.
Canada finished with a 6-2 win over Finland, while defending champion U.S. downed Russia 9-2 on Tuesday.
With their three preliminary-round games starting at 4 p.m. local time, the Canadian women haven’t had a game day skate.
Head coach Doug Derraugh will keep his team off the ice Wednesday. They didn’t skate Monday either, so Canada hasn’t been on the ice except to play games since the tournament started Saturday.
Derraugh’s rationale is now is the time for his players to rest their bodies and mentally process all the information that’s been thrown at them since the start of their training camp March 18 in Toronto.
Canada also skated four times, including a pre-tournament game against a regional midget-aged boys’ team, within 48 hours of landing in Sweden.
“We went about 11 days in a row in camp between games and practices where we never really gave them a break,” Derraugh explained.
“For the coaches, it’s really hard to give the team the day off. You really want to get on the ice and do things. You’ve got to look at the end picture.
“Even tomorrow, we’ll have some meetings and look at video. It’s nice to give them a little bit of a break here before the push.”
The Canadian women will skate Thursday in preparation for their semifinal, in which they’ll face the winner of Wednesday’s quarter-final between Finland and Switzerland.
The U.S. meets the quarterfinal winner of Russia versus host Sweden. The championship and bronze-medal games are Saturday.
Toronto’s Natalie Spooner scored two goals and assisted on another to pace Canada against Finland. Jennifer Wakefield of Pickering, Ont., contributed a goal and a pair of assists, while defender Courtney Birchard of Mississauga, Ont., added a goal and an assist.
Brigette Lacquette of Mallard, Man., and Saskatoon’s Emily Clark scored their first career goals for the national women’s team.
“It was pretty amazing to get the first one under my belt,” said Clark, the youngest player on the Canadian team at 19. “My linemates did a lot of work to make that happen.”
Geneviève Lacasse of Kingston, Ont., stopped 15 of 17 shots in net for the victory. Finland’s captain Jenni Hiirikoski countered with a pair of goals, while goaltender Eveliina Suonpaa made 23 saves in the loss.
With 10 on the 23-player roster making their world championship debut, Canada emerged from the preliminary round outscoring their opponents 12-6 and outshooting them 83-70.