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From the Olympics Toword Tomorrow
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U.S. takes mental edge over Canad in women's hockey
12:00 JPN 0-5 SWE
16:00 FIN 6-1 CHN
20:00 CAN 4-7 USA
U.S. takes mental edge over Canad in women's hockey
There was no love lost Valentine's night Saturday in round robin play between the United States and Canada in women's ice hockey.
The U.S. closed out the round robin competition of the inaugural Olympic women's ice hockey tournament beating its closest rival Canada 7-4 in an exciting goalfest punctuated with a handful of penalties..
''For a game that didn't mean anything, it was played with the utmost intensity and passion. We are pleased to have come back and beat Team Canada,'' U.S. coach Ben Smith told reporters following the game.
The match between the North American hockey powers was a power-play affair as Canada scored three quick goals with a player advantage to open the third period.
Lori Dupuis put Canada up 2-1 with her second goal of the night 1 minute, 24 seconds into the final period.
With the U.S.'s Laurie Baker and Angela Reggiero serving out penalties for tripping and body checking, Canada's Jayna Hefford netted a goal at 5:28, followed by Therese Brisson's shot through the legs of U.S. goalie Sara Decosta at 5:53 of the period.
The sudden goals seemed to awaken the U.S. which answered with four quick and furious goals of its own and by 12:48 of the final period the U.S. was up 5-4 on goals by Baker, Catherine Granato, Jennifer Schmidgall and Patricia Dunn.
''I'm proud of the way my players played in the first two periods. But in the third period when everything broke loose, we lost our composure and were playing out of control,'' Canadian coach Shannon Miller said.
Canada and the U.S. have split their last 14 games, including 13 pre-Olympic exhibition matches, setting up a perfect scenario for next Tuesday's gold medal match, Miller said.
''You have to keep things in perspective in sport so 'hate' is too strong a word, we have an intense dislike and an intense rivalry,'' Miller said of her team's feeling toward its American rivals.
The U.S. finished out the scoring in the exciting third period with an equal strength goal by Elizabeth Brown and a second goal by Baker.
Canada out shot its southern rival 35-30, while the U.S. committed 11 penalties to nine for Canada in a physical game full of rugged play and hard body checking.
Scoring started out in the first period as both teams scored power play goals, with Dupuis's slapshot from just inside the blue line opening up the scoring for Canada 3:01 into the game.
Granato's rebound shot at 19:20 tied up the score for the U.S.
The second period went scoreless, although Gretchen Ulion hit the post twice on break aways while the U.S. was skating short-handed.
The two long-time rivals came into the game undefeated in Olympic round robin play with four wins each, during which the U.S. scored 26 goals while allowing only three to its opponents. Canada outscored its opponents 24-5 in the first four games. (Kyodo News)
Finland easy victor over China in bronze medal preview
Finland was an easy victor over China on Saturday in women's hockey, winning 6-1 at the Aqua Wing ice arena in a preview of next week's bronze medal game for the Nagano Olympic Winter Games.
The Finns got on the board early and never looked back, as Johanna Ikonen opened the scoring 1 minute, 8 seconds into play with a tricky backhand in traffic to beat China's No. 2 goalie Huo Lina.
''Today we played really basic hockey, but it was enough. Now, we must look forward to the medal game,'' said Finnish coach Rauno Korpi.
The two teams were tied with two wins and two losses in round robin play coming into Saturday's match and will battle next Tuesday for the first official Olympic bronze medal in women's ice hockey.
Finland went up 3-0 early in the second period when Sari Krooks beat out goalie Guo Hong, who had come in for Huo after the first period break.
China, whose only goal came on Liu Hongmei's running forehand at 4:50 of the second period, looked sluggish throughout the game and had difficulty containing Finland's quick attack and superior skating skills.
''Tuesday's game is the big game. We'll be much better then,'' said Chinese coach Zhang Zhinan.
''Finland was the better team today, they were quicker than we were and we didn't play very good defense,'' he said.
Marika Lehtimaeki scored two goals for the Finnish team, which finished the round robin in third place, playing equal to its No. 3 world ranking. (Kyodo News)
Sweden sinks Japan 5-0
Erika Holst scored twice, adding an assist, and Charlotte Goethesson stopped 15 shots Saturday as Sweden defeated Japan 5-0 in women's ice hockey, relegating the host team to sixth place in the Nagano Olympics.
Sweden, which had lost its previous four contests at the Aqua Wing ice arena, closed the six-team round robin tourney with a win, claiming fifth place in the Winter Olympics' first women's ice hockey event.
''We really wanted to play for the bronze. Actually, I think we are a better team (than fifth place), so (a 6-1 loss to China earlier) was disappointing,'' said Swedish forward Maria Rooth, who had a goal and an assist.
Coach Bengt Ohlson said the loss to China was hard on his team, adding, ''The girls were nervous (Saturday) because they didn't want to finish last.''
The Swedes controlled the game throughout, holding a 25-15 shots-on-goal advantage, and relenting only in the final period after building a 4-0 lead through the first 40 minutes.
''The Swedish team was very strong. Because of their momentum, we couldn't stop them from the front,'' Japanese coach Toru Itabashi said at the end of the game.
''There were a lot of supporters out there, including many junior players, so we wanted to do the very best we could. Japanese players are not known for their size, so we would like to emphasize their speediness,'' said Itabashi, predicting a bright future for women's ice hockey in Japan. (Kyodo News)
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Copyright 1998 The Shinano Mainichi Shimbun