The Canadian women’s hockey team won its first game against arch-rivals USA at the Beijing Games in what could well serve as a rehearsal for the gold medal game.
The Canadians completed their preliminary round undefeated on Tuesday with a 4-2 victory over the United States, after a fast and physical match that rained down on them penalties and shots on their goalkeeper, Ann-Renée Desbiens .
Forced to deal with numerous turnovers and more than half a dozen penalty kills, the holder of a master’s degree in accounting from La Malbaie made a total of 51 saves, some of which were made in the middle of players jumbled up. “You never know what to expect when you play against the Americans. But what we do know is that it will be a tight and physical match, with a lot of hits and people in front of goal flying all over the place. […] I don’t have to be selfish and I know it’s not ideal for the team, but I often find it easier to have a 50 or 60 pitch game than a 12 pitch game. You just take one stop at a time. »
Historic first for Poulin
The Canadians were the first on the scoreboard in the first period with the first of two goals scored by Brianne Jenner. The Americans came back to score early in the second period, then briefly took the lead, with Canada replying almost immediately, and twice rather than once.
Team Canada captain Marie-Philip Poulin topped off the effort by making it 4-2 on a penalty shot, a first in women’s Olympic hockey in Canada.
The Americans tried to get back into the game in the third period and even took advantage of a numerical advantage to withdraw their goalkeeper and play six against four, nothing helped.
“I think we had some good moments where we were dominating the game, but we’ll have to find a way to maintain that level of effort throughout the game,” commented American defenseman Lee Stecklein. We can’t let the Canadians do what they do best, otherwise they quickly end up putting the puck in the net. »
“We gave a lot of turnovers for simple lack of communication. We are still breaking in,” explained Jocelyne Laroque, from Ste-Anne, Manitoba. There were also too many penalties, she agreed, but only halfway. “The way we play is tough and physical. Even if it should earn us some penalties, it’s not that bad in the long run, provided you don’t exaggerate. It certainly wasn’t our best game, but that’s okay. It’s a long tournament, we will continue to learn and improve. »
On the way to the final
The Canadians thus end their preliminary round with a perfect record of 4 victories, including three won more than comfortably against Switzerland (12-1), Finland (11-1) and the Russians (6-1). This brings Canada’s winning streak to 19 in the preliminary rounds of the Olympic Games, a streak that began in 2002.
However, the head coach of the Canadian team remains cautious. “I obviously prefer the situation in which we find ourselves, but history has shown that this does not guarantee anything, argued Troy Ryan. Let’s say we’re happy to continue to gain confidence, and we’re happy to see that we found a way to win today even though we didn’t play our best hockey. »
If they do not yet know the identity of their opponents in the quarter-finals, it is a safe bet that they will make it to the final for the gold medal on February 17, as they have done every Olympics since women’s hockey entered Nagano in 1998, winning top honors four out of six times. The chances are also high that they will find there, like all the other times except one, in Turin in 2006, their American rivals who had stolen gold from them in Pyeongchang the last time.
This report was funded with support from the Transat-Le Devoir International Journalism Fund.