Milan (Italy) (AFP) – The USA will face women’s hockey champions Canada in the Olympic final, but they had contrasting semi-final victories on Monday. The Americans impressed as they glided through their last-four match-up with a 5-0 win against Sweden. There was never any danger of a repeat of the 2006 Turin Games when the Swedes defeated the Americans at the same stage.
Cayla Barnes scored the opening goal after five minutes, and Taylor Heise, Abbey Murphy, Kendall Coyne, and Hayley Scamurra all netted in a dominant victory for the reigning world champions. Sweden head coach Ulf Lundberg said the only way his side would have won is if they had had “a plexiglass in front of our net” at the Santagiulia Area.
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Canada needed two goals from Marie-Philip Poulin to beat the Swiss in a far tighter game, giving her an Olympic record 20 goals in her career. Rahel Enzler gave the Swiss hope with her goal in the third period, but the Canadians closed out the game. Poulin has scored seven of her goals in four Olympic finals and is the only player, man or woman, to score in four finals.
Canada maintained their record of appearing in the gold medal game of every women’s hockey tournament since it became part of the Winter Games at Nagano in 1998. The Canadians have won five of the previous seven gold medal games, including a 3-2 win over the Americans at Beijing 2022.
© 2024 AFP
