(Herning) After signing convincing victories in their semi-final match on Saturday, Canada and the United States will meet again in the grand final of the World Women’s Hockey Championship on Sunday.
Posted at 3:37 p.m.
In the last game of the day, in Herning, Denmark, the Canadian team completely dominated Switzerland, winning 8-1.
Marie-Philip Poulin led the Canadians offense with two goals and an assist, all in the third period when Canada scored four unanswered goals. Sarah Fillier (1-2) also had three points.
Kristin O’Neill, Jessie Eldridge, Brianne Jenner, Sarah Nurse and Emily Clark scored the other goals for Canada, which fired 56 shots at Saskia Maurer to just six for Switzerland against Ann-Renée Desbiens.
Jenner, Clark, Ella Shelton and Sarah Potomak finished the game with two points each.
Lara Christen, midway through the second period, scored Switzerland’s only goal.
Earlier in the day, the United States earned their ticket to the Grand Final with a 10-1 win over Czech Republic.
Amanda Kessel scored a hat trick and added an assist for the United States.
Hilary Knight contributed to this triumph with a double, which allowed her to improve on the records she already held for points and goals scored in world championship matches. She now has 89 points and 53 goals.
Taylor Heise was the most prolific on the American team on Saturday, with a performance of two goals and three assists. She has 18 points, including seven goals, giving her first place in the tournament.
Hayley Scamurra, Jesse Compher and Caroline Harvey also scored for the United States, which scored six goals in the first period. Goaltender Nicole Hensley only faced 10 shots in front of the net for the United States.
Klara Hymlarova scored the only goal as the Czech Republic allowed 39 shots to their rivals.
On Sunday, the Czech Republic will try to win the bronze medal against Switzerland.
The United States has reached the grand final at every edition of the World Championship since the very first tournament, in 1990 in Ottawa. The Americans won nine gold medals.
In the final last year in Calgary, Canada defeated the United States 3-2 in overtime, ending the Americans’ five-title streak.
However, in the preliminary round of the current edition, the United States scored the last five goals of the match in a 5-2 victory over the Canadians.
USA (6-0) head into the grand final having scored 52 goals in six games and conceded just five. By comparison, Canada (5-1) has scored 30 goals and allowed eight.
The match for fifth place will pit Finland against Japan after their consolation victories.
Finland won 3-2 in overtime against Hungary while Japan overcame a 3-0 deficit after the first period to beat Sweden 5-4.