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The women's hockey tournament at the Olympics, pulse-free until now, is finally near its showcase game after Team USA defeated Sweden 9-1 on Monday afternoon at Canada Hockey Place.With the victory, the U.S. women avenged their shootout loss to the Swedes in the semifinals at the 2006 Olympics. The easy win on Monday was not unexpected; Team USA, with 15 new players from the 2006 lineup, has now out-scored its opponents 40-2 in these Olympics and Canada blew out Sweden 13-1 in the preliminary round.
"We play for each other and push each other to be at our best," said defender Angela Ruggiero, who played her 250th game for Team USA and is in her fourth Olympics.
Monique Lamoreaux, who had a hat trick, opened the scoring for the U.S. at 7:14 of the first period with a one-on-one move around Swedish defender Jenni Asserholt and wrist shot past goalie Kim Martin. Just over a minute later, Meghan Duggan scored on the power play for the 2-0 lead after the first.
Despite returning 10 members from their 2006 silver medal team, Sweden never looked in the same class as the United States and Canada in this tournament. Two minutes after Ruggiero scored at 3:22 of the second period to make it 3-0, Caitlin Cahow scored on a weak wrister that deflected off Martin's glove and into Finland's goal.
Goals by Karen Thatcher (two), Lamoreaux (two) Kerry Weiland and Kelli Stack finished off the blowout for the United States. Finland's lone goal came from Pernilla Winberg at 9:34 of the second period.
The United States will play the winner of Monday night's second semifinal between Canada and Finland. Since the U.S. easily handled Finland 6-0 in the qualifiers, Canada cannot be blamed for looking ahead to their gold medal matchup against their only real rivals.
Until that epic showdown, the women's tournament at the Olympics has been non-competitive. No question the International Olympic Committee, which prides itself on the spirit of healthy competition and not blowouts, is watching.
Nevertheless, anyone who cares about hockey and the Olympics should watch what figures to be a magnificent gold medal game between the U.S. and Canada women on Thursday at 6:30 pm EST.
"We're in the gold medal game," said USA captain Natalie Darwitz. "This is what we trained for. We just have to get ready for Thursday now."
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