USA and Canada Confirm Gold Medal Match in Hockey

After 26 women’s hockey competitions in Beijing this month, the seemingly inevitable lockdown on Monday: Canada and the United States will play for the gold medal.

Since 1998, when women’s hockey became an Olympic sport, teams that have dueled for gold in every Game but one have determined their championship pairings by playing in the semi-finals, which sometimes feel more like a formality than two strong stages.

Canada defeated Switzerland 10-3 in the first match of the day. The United States battled Finland, which captured the bronze medal at the 2018 Games and won by a much smaller margin, and won 4-1. But despite the constant talk of focusing on one game and one opponent at a time, the Americans and Canadians got where they wanted and where nearly everyone expected them to.

“It was a pretty perfect match as we went into the gold medal game,” said Sarah Nurse, a forward on the second Canadian Olympic team. “We wanted to face the challenges today and I think Switzerland played us well.”

The scoreboard showed only so much evidence.

In the rematch of the February 3 match, which Canada won by 11 goals, the Canadians took nearly seven minutes to find the net on Monday. Then it looked like they would never stop scoring goals.

Claire Thompson took a hard hit from the confrontation circle. A diversion gave Jamie Lee Rattray a shot at his catch. Blayre Turnbull scored; So are Renata Fast and Erin Ambrose.

Five Canadian goals in under four minutes.

The Swiss, who had already given up on the day’s winning goal, wasn’t exactly lost. Lara Stalder put Switzerland on the points table towards the end of the first quarter, and Alina Muller, a sensational striker who was 15 when she helped Switzerland win bronze at the 2014 Games, closed a fast-paced game early in the second half. with a goal of your own. Stalder scored again later in the period.

But the Canadians always kept scoring. The second half was 8-3.

Emma Maltais and Brianne Jenner added goals for Canada in the third period. The team has recorded the most teams in the Beijing Games, 54.

“Scoring goals the way we score, it wasn’t just showing up in this tournament,” Jenner said. “He’s been building, building and building for years.”

The Finns, who nearly beat the Americans for the 2019 world championship, faced a much tougher test for the United States after evening fell in Beijing. The Americans, as always, struggled to turn the opportunities into points, although they easily outstripped their opponents.

A dozen USA shots in the first period did not result in a goal – the Americans first took a 2-0 lead when they played Finland on February 3 – and the semi-final remained a goalless draw due to Alex Cavallini’s quick reflex goalkeeping. He was a member of the USA team that won the gold medal at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.

Cayla Barnes, who took the puck after Hilary Knight passed a pass to Hannah Brandt, turned a quick wrist hit into a power play target only with 16 minutes to second.

Knight, who took part in Monday’s 21st Olympic game and broke the American record in women’s hockey, lifted a scrum shot to give the United States a two-goal lead in the final period.

By then, the Americans had tried almost three times as many shots as the Finns, who had won most of the matches.

In the third quarter, Hayley Scamurra once again put America ahead with a long try on the Finnish goalkeeper’s legs.

Finland and Switzerland will play for bronze on Wednesday; Switzerland defeated the Finns 3-2 in a competition on 7 February.

Canada won the first round match 4-2 against the United States the next day. The Americans and Canadians will play the final match of the tournament in Beijing on Thursday afternoon.

Canadians insist they are not considering the 2018 Games, where the United States won the gold medal in a shootout.

“I think we know this history, but we’re going to turn ourselves a blank slate,” Jenner said. “We saw it as an opportunity to go there and request gold instead of looking at the history books and what happened.”