Canada advances to semis with overwhelming win over Sweden
Canada went up against Sweden goalie Emma Söderberg, scoring just three goals on 57 shots in an impressive night for Söderberg but a frustrating one for the Canadians. Despite the 3-0 shutout win, they struggled to make it difficult for Sweden right in front of the net. Canada’s wings were often in front of the net, but they didn’t do enough to make sight lines difficult or cause a pile up so thick you can’t see the blue ice. Things we’ve seen them do in big, dominant wins.
Defenders Jocelyn Larocque and Erin Ambrose scored, along with Sarah Potomak scoring a brilliant highlight reel goal in the second. Ann Renée Desbiens stopped all nine shots she faced in the win. Sweden’s second line of Johansson, Ljungblom and Wikner-Zienkiewicz combined for four shots and had the biggest moments of the game, but it wasn’t enough to get past Desbiens.
Canada released a new forward lineup (listed below), with changes on all four lines following the loss to the USA. The new front row of Jenner, Poulin and Bach each had four shots on goal and combined to contribute to Larocque’s goal. The new fourth line was on the ice for two goals, one on Potomak’s solo effort, but they also deserved credit for creating a mess in front of the net for Erin Ambrose to capitalize on her goal. Jessie Eldridge wasn’t on the ice for a goal, but she actually finished second with seven shots behind Poulin’s nine from the fourth line.
The second line was still disconcertingly quiet, despite Sarah Nurse entering that line to join Sarah Fillier. Maybe it’s just me thinking back to the success of that line at the Olympics and thinking they could really use Natalie Spooner right now. Maybe O’Neill goes up there for the next game or Rattray.
It’s not like they needed this line for this particular game (Nurse and Fillier both looked very dangerous on the powerplay and individually), but there has to be significant improvement going into playing the Americans again. This team is good enough to just get beat by a good goaltender. They have the ability to make goalkeeping jobs difficult and they must do so in the semis in their last game before the finals.
Speaking of the semi-finals, Canada will play the Czech Republic on Saturday at either 8:00 a.m. or 12:00 p.m, after the Czech upset Finland earlier this morning. The U.S. will play Switzerland, who beat Japan, on the same day at the other start time.
Canada’s lineup
Forward
19 Brianne Jenner — 29 Marie-Philip Poulin (C) — 51 Victoria Bach
20 Sarah Nurse — 10 Sarah Fillier — 26 Emily Clark
43 Kristen O’Neill — 40 Blayre Turnbull — 7 Laura Stacey
47 Jamie Lee Rattray — 27 Emma Maltais — 9 Jessie Eldridge
44 Sarah Potomac
Defender
3 Jocelyne Larocque — 14 Renata Fixed
28 Micah Zandee-Hart — 21 Ashton Bell
17 Ella Shelton — 12 Meaghan Mikkelson
23 Erin Ambrose
Goalkeepers
35 Ann Renée Desbiens
38 Emerance Maschmeyer
Sweden’s lineup
Forward
26 Hanna Olsson — 19 Sara Hjalmarsson — 29 Olivia Carlsson
16 Linnea Johansson — 25 Lina Ljungblom — 24 Felizia Wikner-Zienkiewicz
11 Josefin Bouveng — 28 Michelle Löwenhielm (C) — 17 Sofie Lundin
13 Emma Murén — 18 Jenny Antonsson — 21 Celine Tedenby
23 Thea Johansson
Defender
20 Paula Bergström — 12 Maja Nylén Persson
9 Jessica Adolfsson — 3 Anna Kjellbein
10 Mina Waxin — 6 Mira Jungåker
8 Ebba Berglund
Goalkeepers
30 Emma Söderberg
1 Ida Boman
Lineup changes
Lots of changes for Canada as Victoria Bach got the big promotion to Canada’s first line, with Sarah Nurse moving to the second line to assist Sarah Fillier and create a duo there. I’ve felt in this tournament that Fillier has mostly worked on her own and not had her Natalie Spooner to work off of. Now she has it with Nurse. Emily Clark was also promoted from the third line to join the two Sarahs.
The third line was still centered by Turnbull. but the two fourth-line wings, Kristen O’Neill and Laura Stacey, moved up to join her. Jessie Eldridge moved down from the second row to the fourth row to play with Emma Maltais and Jamie Lee Rattray, with Sarah Potomak at extra forward.
Canada’s defense remained intact, with Ann Renée Desbiens back in the starting net after blanking the USA match.
First period
1-0
Larocque with his first WWC goal! The 34-year-old parent of the blueline took a centering pass from her defense partner Renata Fast, got the puck into her cockpit as Jenner caused a mess in front of the net and scored to open the scoring for Canada. MPP got the secondary assist on the goal late in the first period after Canada had already outscored Sweden 13-0 in shots.
Second period
Bergström boards O’Neill in a similar hit that Neimanen was suspended for also against O’Neill. But I think it was enough of a deduction that it wouldn’t be a major.
Canada had received five power plays at the halfway point in the game and they had yet to score on one. Fillier, Nurse and Poulin all took shots and one-timers, but Söderberg played extremely well in net to get over and get the puck.
2-0
SARAH POTOMAK WITH A BEAUTY!!! After being kicked down to the 13th forward for this game, Potomak picked up the puck in the neutral zone, heated up the Rays, ran past the center at the offensive blue line, past the defender who missed her before she could even swing, and put three moves on Söderberg at lightning speed before dropping the puck in and doubling Canada’s lead. What. A goal.
Third period
Canada piled on the pressure in the third period after a relatively big push in the second period from the Swedes who had seven shots in the second.
3-0
Eventually, Erin Ambrose put in another goal after several chances from the fourth line. Ambrose made a big move across the blue line under pressure before taking a shot through the moving screen and in. This was the breathing room Canada needed.
O’Neill had a golden opportunity on a two-on-one with Maltais, but she fired the puck through Söderberg’s five-hole and out past the far post. Frustrating.