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The shock of the day was the near demise of the U.S. team, Canada's
arch-rival for the first five world championships, and their conquerors
at the Nagano Olympics.
The
United States narrowly escaped defeat last night at the hands
of the Finns in a game in London, Ont. The Finnish team led the
Americans for almost the entire game. With nine minutes to go
in the third period, the Finns were ahead 3-2.
But
the Americans, the 1998 Olympic champions, were somehow able to
rally. At one point in the game, they had been down 2-0. In the
end, they roared to a 4-3 win.
Every
time an update on the game was announced at the Hershey Centre
-- with the Finns in the lead -- the large crowd broke into cheers,
waving white handkerchiefs.
But
the truth of the matter is that a U.S. loss wouldn't have done
the Canadian team any real favours. It would have meant that Canada
would meet the United States in a semi-final round, thus squashing
that nail-biting, toe-to-toe final match between Canada and the
United States that puts people on the edge of their seats.
Finland
arrived with two of its best players on the injured list.
Back
in Mississauga and away from all that drama, the Canadian team
overwhelmed the Swedes, cruising to a 4-0 victory.
It
was an easier victory than expected because the Swedish team had
shown hints of brilliance at the world championships last year,
where they pressed Canada to a 4-1 win in the semi-finals.
But
the tall, lanky Swedes got off to a slow start last night in the
first period. Canadian goalie Sami Jo Small of Winnipeg played
a lonely role at one end of the rink, having to stop only two
shots.
Canada
fired 21 shots at the Swedish goalie and succeeded with two of
them. Danielle Goyette of St-Nazaire, Que., the oldest player
on the Canadian team at age 34, got busy early, scoring the first
goal for Canada at 1:20 of the first period.
Vicky
Sunohara of Scarborough, Ont., made it 2-0 for Canada halfway
through the first period, taking a pass from team captain Therese
Brisson of Montreal and Amanda Benoit of Welland, Ont., who was
called up to fill a vacancy on the team roster because another
player was injured.
The
score could have been even higher. Two goals were disallowed in
the first period. The first was ruled no goal because the puck
had been swept into the net by a hand. The second was disallowed
because a referee had blown a whistle before it had trickled in.
The very large crowd booed.
Jayna
Hefford of Kingston, Ont., put Canada ahead 3-0 in the second
period with a marvellous rush to the net.
And
the crowd went wild when Cassie Campbell, of nearby Brampton,
Ont., scored Canada's fourth goal with only a little more than
a minute to go in the second period.
The
Swedes picked up the pace in the third period, getting their defensive
game at work, and keeping Canada's goal-scorers at bay.
Canada's
win puts it in first place in its pool. Finland's loss sets up
a semi-final match with Canada at 1 p.m. tomorrow.
The
Chinese took the prize for chippy play during their match with
Japan earlier in the day. The Chinese won 3-0 over Japan yesterday,
and the low score obviously put them in an ugly mood.
Even
chief referee Anna Haanpaa, a former four-time world bronze medalist
player with the Finnish team, noted that the Chinese got nastier
as the game progressed. The third period was tense as the Chinese
were shut out.
The
low goal tally for China didn't help its cause in the playoff
rounds, as it was aiming to finish second in their pool. (China's
best finish at a world championship has been fourth.)
After
all, Sweden, which played Canada last night, defeated Japan 10-0
earlier in the week. Before Sweden even played Canada last night,
the Chinese were 14 goals behind the Swedes.
As
the game continued, the Chinese got rough, slashing, barrelling
up against the tiny Japanese, tripping and body checking.
One
Chinese player, Yang Xuiqing, visited the penalty box three times,
once each period. Haanpaa handed the Chinese team a bench minor
penalty for delaying the game in the third period.
Haanpaa
said she had twice warned one Chinese player to move the puck,
after she scooped it up against the boards and kept it out of
play. "Nothing happened," Haanpaa said.
Referees
seemed lenient to chippy players earlier, but after several warnings
went unheeded, they began to slap penalties against them quickly
in the third period.
"[The
Chinese] have always been like that," Haanpaa said. "But the Japanese
are getting more agressive, too."
The
Chinese outshot the Japanese 32-23. Although it was announced
that 3,405 people had paid for seats yesterday during the game,
only 500 to 600 people were actually in the rink. That
changed later when Canada played Sweden; there may have been 4,500
people in the 5,000-seat arena.
Reprinted with permission
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