U.S., Canada heads and shoulders above the competition in Beijing
BEIJING
Immediately after one of Finland’s most lopsided losses in international women’s hockey history, general manager Tuula Puputti marveled with envy at the depth of talent Canada has assembled.
She began by referencing Canada’s top line centered by captain Marie-Philip Poulin, who has drawn comparisons to Sidney Crosby for scoring two gold-medal clinching goals. Then there’s a second line anchored by Sarah Fillier, the 21-yearold Princeton captain, who already has scored four times in her Olympic debut.
Puputti, however, didn’t stop there.
“Who wouldn’t want to have their third and fourth lines on their teams as well?” the former goalie said, incredulously. “It’s plenty to choose.”
Plenty harder to contain.
Whatever faint hope there was of the rest of the world closing the gap on the Canadian and U.S. women’s hockey teams is quickly being dashed three days into the Beijing Games.
Canada outclassed its first two Group A opponents with a pair of 11-1 victories, beginning with Switzerland on Thursday and the Finns on Saturday. And Finland, the defending Olympic and world championship bronze medalist, hardly fared much better against the United States in 5-2 loss on Thursday night.
The defending Olympic champion Americans improved to 2-0 by overcoming a slow start in a 5-0 win over the Russian team later in the day.
In Group B play, Haruka Toko had a goal and two assists, and Japan improved to 2-0 with a
6-2 victory over Denmark (0-2). The Czech Republic is off to a 2-0 start in its Olympic women’s hockey debut after Tereza Vanisova scored twice in a 3-1 win over Sweden (0-2).
For Puputti, very little has changed her mind in the two months since she called Canada the tournament favorite.
“Today it wasn’t our best game, and they came out very strong,” she said.
After Minnamari Tuominen provided Finland brief life by scoring from the left point to cut the deficit to 2-1 with 1:33 remaining, Canada responded with a five-goal second period.
Barring a drastic turn of events, the likelihood of the U.S. facing Canada in the gold-medal game for the sixth time in seven Olympic tournaments appears inevitable. The only exception was the 2006 Torino Games, when Sweden beat the U.S. in the semifinals before losing to Canada.
“I really believe Canada and the U.S. are playing on a different planet right now,” said Czech coach Tomas Pacina. “It’s a very mature hockey, very high-end hockey, very close to men’s hockey.”
Canada’s up-tempo transition attack and heavy emphasis on the forecheck was readily apparent against the Finns. Fillier opened the scoring 61 seconds in by snapping in a shot from the right circle, and Sarah Nurse scored 11 minutes later off Sanni Rantala’s giveaway.
The rout was on when
Brianne Jenner and Laura Stacey scored 2:08 apart to put Canada up 7-1 with 3:25 left in the second period, when each of their pass attempts deflected in off Finland defenders.
“Not every game is going to look like that,” said Jenner, who scored three goals and added an assist. “But we’re confident with this group, no matter what the score is.”
Canada didn’t skip a beat despite missing second-line winger Melodie Daoust, who is listed as day-to-day after sustaining an upper-body injury against the Swiss. Jamie Lee Rattray filled
Daoust’s spot and finished with a goal and two assists.
“It speaks to how versatile everyone’s game is,” Fillier said. “It’s the best 23 players in Canada. So, wherever you put anyone it’s going to click.”
The 11 goals scored were the most by the Canadian women against Finland in Olympic or world championship play. The 10-goal margin of defeat represented the Finns’ second worst behind an 11-0 loss to the U.S. at the 2012 world championships.