US win sets up clash with Canada
GANGNEUNG, South Korea — First, they got bodies to the net. Then, members of the U.S. women’s hockey team got shots through to the net and the rout was on at Kwandong Hockey Centre, triggered by forward Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson setting an Olympic record for men or women by scoring two goals six seconds apart against the brave but overmatched Olympic Athletes from Russia.
“I honestly don’t know if I’ve scored two goals in one shift before,” said Lamoureux-Davidson, who blew past two defenders before faking goaltender Valeria Tarakanova to the ice and slicing a nasty backhander beyond the goalie’s reach.
The U.S. women’s 5-0 preliminary-round victory on Tuesday got the formalities out of the way and ensured that their final roundrobin game against Canada on Thursday will have some significance. The winner will get the No. 1 seed in the group and a potentially better matchup in the semifinals after both get byes through the quarterfinals.
Not that the U.S. and Canada, the two dominant forces in the women’s game and winners of all five women’s Olympic hockey tournaments, need extra incentive when they face each other anywhere, at any time. Especially after Canada defeated the U.S. in the last two Olympic finals — including an overtime triumph at Sochi in 2014 — and guaranteed that the Americans’ gold-medal drought would last 20 years.
“We want to be the home team, we want to be No. 1 seed. I think we would prefer to be the one seed and play the four seed,” said Monique Lamoureux-Morando, Jocelyne’s twin and linemate. “We want to put ourselves in the best position to have success.
“Those are the games you really get up for. You don’t really have to try and motivate yourself. That one, it’s going to come. It’s a huge rivalry. It’s a great test for us.”
The U.S. and Canada both have 2-0 records here. Both have beaten Finland — the U.S. by a 3-1 count and Canada by 4-1 — and both defeated the Olympic Athletes of Russia by a 5-0 count, Canada doing that in its opener and the U.S. matching that on Tuesday with the support of a 13-save performance by Nicole Hensley.
The 23-year-old Colorado native pleaded ignorance about a USA Today report that she might have had to alter the design of her goalie mask before the game to remove its depiction of the Statue of Liberty on the left side because the International Olympic Committee considered that image to be a political symbol, which it prohibits. Teammate Alex Rigsby has a smaller image of the Statue of Liberty on her mask and reportedly would have had to remove that, too. However, the IOC backed off after a review and Hensley was allowed to wear the mask without altering it. Rigsby was her backup on Tuesday.
“We’re all good. I’m really not sure what happened,” Hensley said. “I’m just focused on playing the games.”