(Utica) At the women’s hockey world championship, Canada intends to be vigilant against a quarterfinal opponent who brought it to the brink of elimination last year, at the same point in the tournament .
It took an overtime goal from Sarah Nurse in Brampton, Ont., to beat Sweden 3-2 in the quarterfinal.
“We all remember this match. We have something to prove,” Canadian forward Blayre Turnbull said Wednesday.
Canada and Sweden will face off on Thursday at the Adirondack Bank Center at 5 p.m.
Also on Thursday, Finland will play Switzerland, the Czech Republic will face Germany and the United States will face Japan.
The semi-finals will take place on Saturday and the medal matches on Sunday.
China and Denmark will be relegated to the Division 1 world championship after finishing fourth and fifth respectively in Group B.
In Brampton, Canada led 2-0 but Sweden scored on a power play in the second period, then at even strength with less than 10 seconds left in regulation.
“It caused some of my gray hairs,” said Canadian head coach Troy Ryan.
“They have a lot of talent, a lot of skill, good goalkeepers. Last year they probably gained in confidence, so on our side we will have to do what we can to take that element away from them as quickly as possible. »
On Monday, the Canadians lost 1-0 in overtime to the defending champions, the Americans, to finish the preliminary round with a record of 3-0-1-0.
There was no panic. We lost 1-0 in overtime. We know we can win next time.
Sarah Nurse
It took Canada a while to generate offense in a physical matchup with the United States. On Wednesday, the maple leaf also worked on entries into the offensive zone.
“The improvements we need to make are not just to take on the United States,” Turnbull said. It will be beneficial against all teams. »
Canada has yet to allow a power play goal in the tournament.
However, the country’s unit in superiority is only 1 in 10.
“We had a good discussion. It’s way too stagnant right now, Ryan said. There’s not a lot of movement (on the power play). I encouraged them to have just a little more freedom, a little more creativity.
Usually you want more structure. I think we just need to play a little more freely, move around more.
Troy Ryan, head coach of the Canadian team
Ryan gradually increased the playing time of Marie-Philip Poulin, who missed three LPHF matches before the championship, to a peak of 18 minutes against the Americans.
Ryan has not yet announced who will be the starting goalie against Sweden.
In a scenario that would be similar to that of Brampton, Emerance Maschmeyer could get the nod, with an eye toward keeping Ann-Renée Desbiens for possible back-to-back games this weekend.
Goalkeeper Emma Soderberg is the only Swede in LPHF, being the reserve with Boston.