Victoria Bach and several of her Canadian teammates greatly benefited from the time in the offensive zone given to them by the Japanese in a 9-0 victory in the round robin of the World Women’s Hockey Championship.
Bach scored the first goal of his career at the World Cup, in addition to preparing that of Emma Maltais and being an accomplice of another. Captain Marie-Philip Poulin scored twice and added an assist for the defending champions.
Ella Shelton, Blayre Turnbull, Jamie Lee Rattray, Sarah Fillier and Sarah Potomak also each scored once in Canada’s third consecutive round robin win at Herning, Denmark.
Defenseman Jocelyne Larocque added two assists to reach the 50-point career milestone for the national team. Erin Ambrose also had two assists. Sixteen players from Canada collected at least one point in this duel.
“It’s exciting, but our main goal was to follow the game plan and prepare for the games to come,” Bach said.
“We’ve done a good job on new aspects of our game, both as a line and as a team.”
Japan, deprived of three skaters for their first encounter in 22 years with Canada, received eight penalties, three of which led to goals by the winners.
On his first start, Emerance Maschmeyer didn’t have to face a pitch until the last minute of the second period. She fended off the five she faced.
“It’s quite a challenge to wait like this in front of the net. But I knew when Japan got a chance it would be a very good chance to score, so I had to stay ready,” Maschmeyer said.
“I have experience in these kinds of meetings, which allows me to know what to do to stay in the game. It’s about communicating with my teammates, playing the puck when I can and staying focused. The next shot is always the most important.”
Japan goalkeeper Akane Konishi stopped 28 of 32 shots she received before being replaced by Riko Kawaguchi midway through the second period of the first game between the two countries in 22 years. Kawaguchi made 22 saves.
Canada will end its round robin on Tuesday against the United States, also undefeated in two games. The Americans will face the Swiss on Monday. In the only Group B game on Sunday, in Frederikshavn, Denmark scored their first victory, 1-0, against Hungary.
The top four teams in each group will reach the quarter-finals, played on Thursday. The semi-finals are on Saturday and the medal matches on Sunday in Herning.
Japan finished sixth last year, the best ranking in its history. He also placed sixth at the Beijing Olympics in February, but his roster was completely revamped and he showed up in Denmark with 13 players under the age of 22. The three injured on Sunday were part of the group of veterans who participated in the Beijing Games.
The country ended up in Group A due to the exclusion of Russia by the International Ice Hockey Federation.
He struggled to contain Canada in the first period and took five minor penalties, including three in the first five minutes, which paved the way for Canada’s two goals.
Japan head coach Yuji Iizuka said he changed goalkeepers to give both players experience against the No. 1 team in the world.
“It’s a great development opportunity every time you play Canada,” he said through a translator. All the players are very excited to face Canada; it means a lot. We know it’s going to be a difficult match, but it’s a chance to face the world champions.