Law scores OT winner as Canada moves on to face Sweden for gold at U18 Women’s Hockey Worlds
Alex Law scored twice, including the overtime winner, as Canada beat Finland 3-2 in a Women’s Under-18 Hockey World Cup semifinal on Saturday in Östersund, Sweden.
Canada will meet Sweden for the gold medal on Sunday.
Law’s OT winner at 7:32 was first credited to defenseman Ava Murphy, though it was Law’s wrist shot that snuck under Kerttu Kuja-Halkola.
Murphy skated the puck from the defensive to the offensive zone and dished to Law in open ice. Law’s shot went under Finland’s goaltender, who kicked the puck into his own net to end three-on-three overtime.
SEE l Team lifts Canada over Finland in OT:
Law and Abby Stonehouse scored in regulation for Canada with assistant captain Emma Pais contributing a pair of assists for the reigning champions.
Canadian goalkeeper Hannah Clark stopped 24 shots for the win.
Sanni Vanhanen and Paulina Salonen scored for the Finns. Kuja-Halkola made 38 saves in the loss.
“I think we came out a little flat. The Finns came out flying, had a great forecheck going that really took away our momentum,” said Canadian coach Courtney Birchard-Kessel. “It took us a while to settle in and get our feet under us, but we found a way to win.
“This is such an amazing experience with your family watching back home, it’s so exciting. Going into the gold medal game, I think it’s an incredible experience; it’s going to be packed to play against Sweden. It is something our players will remember for the rest of their lives.”
Canada is chasing repeat gold at the women’s U18 tournament after defeating the United States 3-2 in last year’s final in Madison, Wis.
The Canadians killed a too-many-players penalty starting 2:10 into overtime in Saturday’s semifinal. Canada took eight minor penalties in the game against Finland.
Canada was down 2-1 in the third period when Law scored the equalizer at 12:39. She drove in from the wing and lobbed a wrist shot over Kuja-Halkola’s right shoulder.
Bar down! 🚨 #U18WomensWorldspic.twitter.com/C801N8KMxs
Salonen scored the go-ahead for the Finns just eight seconds into the third period.
Finland won the faceoff and pushed the puck into the offensive zone, where Salonen took advantage of a broken play to beat Clark with a low stick-side shot.
The Finns trailed 1-0 after the first period, Vanhanen tied his team even at 11:56 of the second. She converted a rebound after Julia Schalin’s effort, which drove into the net from the corner.
Stonehouse scored her second goal of the tournament, tipping a Pais shot from the point by Kuja-Halkola at 9:47 of the opening period.
“Something we’ve all dreamed of”
“As a team it wasn’t a perfect performance, but through the 60 minutes at least we had a perfect effort,” Law said. “We gave it our all, worked as a team, moved the puck and it ended up working in our favor.
“We put so much work into this, [playing for gold] is something we’ve all dreamed of. We have to move the puck quickly, ride hard and have positive energy on the bench and I think we can take home gold.”
Sweden doubled the USA 2-1 in Saturday’s earlier semifinal to advance to the championship game for just the second time in the tournament’s 15-year history.
The USA reached the finals for the first time and will play Finland for bronze on Sunday.
The Canadians had lost 4-3 to the Finns in a pre-tournament match, but hammered them 8-0 in the preliminary round.
Felicia Frank made 37 saves in Sweden’s net in the semi-final win over the USA
Defenders Mira Junkager and Astrid Lindeberg scored for the Swedes and Lucia Digirolamo countered for the USA.
Sweden made it to the final in 2018 when they lost 9-3 to the Americans in Russian Dmitrov.
The Czech Republic doubled Slovakia 6-3 in the match for fifth place.
Slovakia’s Nela Lopusanova scored two highlights of the competition to end her first international tournament.
Lopusanova, who is only 14 years old, led the tournament in scoring with nine goals and three assists in five games.
SEE l Kraemer pushes Canada past USA in final preliminary game: