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Saturday, March 13, 1999
Canada 4 Sweden 1
Canada destroys Sweden
Coach Daniele Sauvageau's team will face the winner of the USA-Finland semifinal for the championship Sunday (11 a.m. EST, TSN).
Nancy Drolet of Drummondville, Que., scored two goals and Jayna Hefford of Kingston, Ont., and Nathalie Rivard of Mississauga, Ont., added one each against Sweden, which had been beaten 11-0 by the United States in the opening round.
"We had our ups and downs," admitted Rivard. "But we regrouped and got back to playing our game."
Tina Mansson scored for Sweden, which was the first of Canada's four opponents to score a goal.
Canada, the winner of all four previous women's worlds, now is 24-0 in the history of the event.
In the early going, Sweden concentrated on defence to try and hold Canada off the scoresheet. When they gained possession, the Swedes iced the puck.
The tactic worked for 18 minutes. Drolet finally broke through in the 19th minute. Gaining possession of a loose puck in a corner of Sweden's zone, Drolet darted to the side of the net to flick a wrist shot past goaltender Lotta Gothesson.
Mansson tied the score on a power play at 6:17 of the second period. Fending off a check by Jayna Hefford, Mansson shovelled a low shot towards Kim St-Pierre and the puck dribbled between the goalie's legs.
The Swedes were giving Canada more of a game than had been expected. The defending champions were playing unimpressively. Bad passes and missed passes ruined many of their rushes.
"We were playing hard and were still first on the puck but we just had a couple of let's just say not-so-precise passes," said Rivard. "But we changed our game play to make it simpler, to get the puck up the ice quicker, and that rectified things."
Drolet made it 2-1 at 10:18 of the second off a pass from Danielle Goyette. Drolet's shot deflected off the stick blade of Pernilla Burholm to handcuff Gothesson.
Canada's power play was not producing. Finally, after going 0-for-5, it produced a 3-1 lead at 7:27 of the third period. Rivard slapped a long drive and Hefford shoved in the rebound.
Rivard then slapped a long shot that bounced through traffic and into Sweden's net at 17:10.
Canada outshot Sweden 40-15. Despite those numbers, it wasn't the Canadian cakewalk everybody was predicting.
"We're feeling pretty solid," Rivard said. "We've only got one goal against us in four games, so we're really proud of our defensive record.
"Knowing that we are really solid defensively, all we have to do now is capitalize on our chances and turn it on when we have to, and the goals will come."