Team Canada takes down Switzerland at women’s world hockey championship
Team Canada defeated Switzerland 4-0 on Friday at the IIHF Women’s World Championship, taking place in Ceske Budejovice, Czechia.
Canada kicked off its title defence on Thursday with a decisive 5-0 win against Finland. Team Canada debuts were a major storyline of the game, with Jennifer Gardiner making quite an impression with two goals and one assist in her first world championship appearance. Goaltender Kristen Campbell got her first world championship start in net for Team Canada, and also made it count with a shutout.
READ: Team Canada wins first game of women’s world hockey championship
Less than 18 hours later, Team Canada was back on the ice against the Swiss. The Canadians entered the game with a 20-0-0 historical record against Switzerland. The Swiss opened their tournament on Wednesday with a 3-0 loss against Team Czechia.
Team Canada fans were happy to see a healthy Ann-Renée Desbiens take to the net against Switzerland. Desbiens, the top-ranked goalie in the PWHL, suffered an injury in a game with the Montreal Victoire ahead of the tournament. Desbiens looked to be in strong form, shutting out the Swiss offense.
Once again, it was Team Canada that opened up the scoring. Micah Zandee-Hart buried a rebound as a shot from Team Canada’s captain, Marie-Philip Poulin, bounced off of Swiss goaltender Andrea Braendli.
Team Canada held off a strong power play effort from the Swiss to close out the first period with their lead intact 1-0, and shots 13-12.
Canada’s Natalie Spooner was the next to score, capitalizing on the Canadian powerplay, after Switzerland’s Lara Stalder took a penalty for roughing. It was Captain Clutch with the assist once again, as well as Spooner’s Toronto Sceptres teammate, Sarah Nurse, with the secondary assist.
READ: “The opportunity is a privilege”: Emma Maltais on playing for Team Canada and the impact of the PWHL
Less than two minutes later, Laura Stacey added her name to the scoresheet, fed by a beautiful pass from, you guessed it, Poulin.
But the momentum didn’t stop there, only 40 seconds later, Daryl Watts, another of Team Canada’s world championship rookies, scored her first world championship goal.
Just over three minutes later, Watts almost had her second of the tournament, as she scored again. A coach’s challenge from Switzerland’s Colin Muller provoked a video review of the play, which was determined offside, calling back the Canadian goal.
The second period of play closed out with Team Canada up 4-0, and with the shots 27-13 showing off Team Canada’s dominance in the middle period.
The third period was not quite as frenetic as the second, with the Canadians maintaining their 4-0 lead, and closing out the game 32-16 in shots.
Poulin was awarded player of the game, having racked up three primary assists. This tournament marks Poulin’s 13th world championship appearance for Team Canada.
Team Canada’s next preliminary game is a highly anticipated one against their long-standing rival, Team USA. Canada and the United States have played each other in the world championship final 22 times out of 23 world championship appearances. The puck will drop at 1:00pm ET on Sunday, April 13.
