We are in the home stretch! Just two more games left until we crown an Olympic champion in women’s hockey. Let’s talk about the games that set the gold and bronze medal matchups.
Canada 10 – Switzerland 3
This Canadian team did what they do best and scored early to grab and hold onto the lead. By the 10:40 mark of the first period, Canada led 5-0. These goals came from across the lineup with Claire Thompson, Jamie Lee Rattray, Blayre Turnbull, Renata Fast and Erin Ambrose all getting on the board.
Switzerland made a goaltending change after Canada’s fourth goal, subbing Andrea Braendli out for Saskia Maurer. Switzerland was able to get their offence started and by the end of the first period, Lara Stalder had scored.
Alina Muller opened the second-period scoring, trying to put any dent possible in Canada’s lead. Captain Canada, Marie-Philip Poulin came right back and scored just minutes later. Poulin’s goal was quickly followed by one from Emily Clark and Switzerland saw themselves down by five again. Stalder and Poulin exchanged goals at the end of the second period and Canada led 8-3 heading into the final period.
In the third period, Emma Maltais scored her first goal of the tournament and Brianne Jenner added another to her tournament total to finish off a 10-3 win for the Canadians.
Ann-Renee Desbiens only saw 13 shots, stopping 10 of them and she along with their team booked a spot in the gold medal game.
United States 4 – Finland 1
The USA and Finland spent the duration of the first period locked scoreless. Cayla Barnes got the United States on the board first with a power play goal 3:39 into the second period. Finland held the USA off until Hilary Knight made it 2-0 with just over a minute to go in the middle frame.
Hayley Scamurra scored to give the USA a 3-0 lead with less than five minutes remaining in the game. While Susanna Tapani scored in the last minute, it was too little too late for the Finns. Abby Roque scored on the empty net and sealed a 4-1 win.
It was a strong game for Alex Cavallini who stopped 25 of 26 shots against. It is looking like she will start against Canada in the gold medal game.
The bronze medal game between Switzerland and Finland will be played on Wednesday at 7:30 pm local time (6:30 am EST).
The gold medal game between Canada and the United States will be played on Thursday at 12:10 pm local time (Wednesday at 11:10 pm EST).
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