(Utica) A Toronto connection from the Professional Women’s Hockey League contributed greatly to Canada’s 3-0 victory over Switzerland on Friday at the Women’s World Hockey Championship.
Emma Maltais and Sarah Nurse scored the first two goals for the Canadian team and Natalie Spooner participated in each of these goals.
These three forwards are teammates with Toronto’s LPHF team, which began its inaugural season in early 2024.
“It’s smart to use these connections that we have within our league teams, that’s for sure,” Maltais admitted.
Sarah Fillier added an empty-net goal for Canada (2-0), which collected this victory less than 24 hours after its 4-1 victory against Finland.
Emerance Maschmeyer, Ottawa’s number one goaltender in the LPHF, blocked 17 pucks in her first start of the tournament.
The Swiss players (0-2) remain looking for their first goal of the tournament, after two games.
Goalie Andrea Braendli stopped 43 pucks after making 51 saves in a 4-0 loss to the United States.
PHOTO CHRISTINNE MUSCHI, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Sarah Nurse (20) takes a shot at goalkeeper Andrea Brandli (20)
“Andrea is someone we have been able to rely on a lot for years. It’s great to have him by our side. It gives us a little more security,” remarked head coach Colin Muller, who is originally from Toronto.
“I just told our team that I thought we played well. We entered the match gradually. We started slowly and conceded two goals early in the game, but then I think we handled it well. »
Canada will complete the preliminary phase in Group A with matches against the Czech Republic on Sunday afternoon and against the American team, the defending champion, on Monday evening.
Troy Ryan, Canada’s head coach, continued to limit the presence on the ice of captain Marie-Philip Poulin by limiting his number of minutes of play. Poulin played for a little more than 14 minutes on Friday, approximately two minutes more than in the first match.
Poulin missed Montreal’s final three games before the international break due to an undisclosed injury.
Ryan was not pleased with his players’ performance against the Finns. However, he was happier with the effort on Friday after a brief interval between the two matches.
PHOTO CHRISTINNE MUSCHI, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Canada head coach Troy Ryan and assistant coach Caroline Ouellette
I think we didn’t have a typical pre-game meeting before we got on the ice today. Instead, we reviewed the things we didn’t do very well. At the start of an event like this, I think we can afford to do that. Later in the tournament, I don’t think you can do it too often.
Troy Ryan, Canada’s head coach
“We improved certain aspects and I found that from the start you could see a different collective focus. »
Maschmeyer withstood a barrage of shots after Braendli was replaced by a sixth attacker.
Canada led 2-0 after two periods and had 31 shots compared to just seven for Switzerland after 40 minutes of play.
The Swiss’ first shot of the game came during a power play late in the first period.
Switzerland had a two-player power play for 90 seconds early in the second period, following penalties to Nurse and Renata Fast for tripping. The Swiss did not know how to exploit this opportunity.
While Spooner made his presence felt in opposing territory, Nurse took advantage of a turnover by Swiss captain Lara Stalder to beat Braendli into the upper part of the net, at 7:46 of the first period.
Maltais opened the scoring after just 70 seconds of play, jumping on the return of a Spooner shot. For Maltais, it was a second goal since the start of the tournament.
The five teams that make up Group A and those that occupy the first three places in Group B at the end of the preliminary phase will advance to the quarter-finals on April 11.
The semi-finals will take place on April 13 with the medal matches following the next day.
Canadian teams have won 12 gold medals in 22 editions of the tournament and have appeared in all but one final.