She’s young, she’s talented and she’s not done impressing. Sarah Fillier scored three goals to propel Canada to the Women’s Worlds final on Saturday night.
The blonde braided forward scored her fifth, sixth and seventh goals of the tournament as Canada beat Switzerland 5-1.
The Canadians, who arrived in this semi-final with one of the worst shooting efficiency rates of the tournament, took control of the game from the first moments. The puck was theirs, but the opportunism was not there.
In the first period, Blayre Turnbull, Kristin O’Neill and Brianne Jenner all stood out with nice pieces of play, but each time they came up against goalkeeper Andrea Braendli, the opposing clan’s great savior throughout the game.
PHOTO FRANK GUNN, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Swiss goalkeeper Andrea Braendli and Canadian striker Natalie Spooner.
The first shot for the Swiss only came 16 minutes into the game, on the game’s first power play. They also suffered a blow late in the first period, when their captain, Lara Stalder, received a game misconduct for checking Sarah Nurse from behind. The representatives of Switzerland were therefore deprived of their best scorer for the rest of the match…
The Ontario crowd, all dressed in red, had to wait until the middle of the second period to finally celebrate; Fillier accepted a pass from Sarah Nurse entering the zone before going there with a wrist shot from the top of the slot. Canada finally found an answer to the Braendli mystery.
Fillier did it again just six minutes later. The 22-year-old Ontarian jumped on a comeback to make it 2-0. Jamie Lee Rattray took the lead early in the third period, before Fillier scored his third and sent the hats flying on the ice.
The Swiss had the satisfaction of depriving Ann-Renée Desbiens of a shutout by scoring their only goal of the game on a double power play with only two minutes left in the game.
Chasing a third consecutive world title, Canada will face the United States in the final on Sunday at 7 p.m.