February 26, 2009
CANADA REACHES INAUGURAL WOMEN'S HOCKEY FINAL AT WINTER UNIVERSIADE
HARBIN, China - York forward Carly Hill scored the eventual game winner at the final buzzer of the first period as Canada's hopes of a gold medal in women's hockey remained on track, thanks to their 10-1 semi-final win over Slovakia at the 24th Winter Universiade in Harbin, China.
Women's hockey is part of the world university games program for the first time in 2009.
The Slovaks came closest to handing the Canadians a preliminary round defeat, scoring the game's first goal and holding the Canadians to a 4-3 lead after two periods before surrendering two third period markers in a 6-3 defeat. Canada anticipated their semi-final opponents to be better than they were in the round robin match-up, and needed to match the Slovak intensity.
"They did a lot of good things on Saturday night," said head coach Dan Church. "But we discussed that before the game and realized that score probably had more to do with how flat we were, than how good they played. We didn't really intend to turn this into any sort of statement game, other than to prove to ourselves that we could be better."
Determined not to let the Slovaks draw first blood as they did in the round robin, Moncton forward Mariève Provost scored the game's opening goal three minutes into the opener. The Canadians spent the better part of the games opening frame in the Slovak end, outshooting them 20-3, and only the goaltending of Slovak keeper Monika Kvakova kept the game from turning into a runaway early.
The Slovaks looked to have weathered the storm, when Hill scored right at the buzzer to send the Canadians to the dressing room up a pair. Hill's goal demoralized the Slovaks heading into the break, who seemed to be ready to credit themselves with the moral victory of only being down one at the intermission.
"You could see it in their body language as they left the ice," said Church. "I thought Carly's goal really set them back. We came out with good speed in the first period and out-shot them badly. For them to get out of the period only down one would have been big for them."
As deflated as Hill's goal left the Slovaks, it energized the Canadian side. Hill scored again 77 seconds into the middle period with Wilfrid Laurier's Andrea Bevan scoring less than two minutes later to make it 4-0 and the eventual result was never in jeopardy from then on.
The Slovaks had a small victory midway through the period when Petra Jurcova beat Canadian netminder Stacey Corfield, but the Canadians further crushed the Slovak spirit with Leah Copeland scoring two goals in a 17 second span. In all, the Canadians scored five second period goals and took a comfortable 7-1 led into the final 20 minutes.
In the third, the Slovak frustrations started to boil over, and they paid for it on the scoreboard. York forward Courtney Unruh scored her second power play marker of the night to make it 8-1 before Copeland completed the hat trick to make it a 9-1 game. McGill's Vanessa Davidson capped off the scoring for Canada with the team's fifth power play marker of the evening as the Canadians assured themselves of a medal.
As they have throughout the tournament, the Canadians controlled the pace and flow of the game from start to finish, outshooting the Slovaks by a 50-9 margin. Stacey Corfield made eight saves in the victory, picked up her fourth win of the tournament.
Canada advances to the Friday's gold medal final where they will face the winner of the China-Finland semi-final.
Team Canada website: www.cisport.ca/harbin
2009 Winter Universiade website: http://en.harbin2009.org
Source: CIS Communications
Women's hockey is part of the world university games program for the first time in 2009.
The Slovaks came closest to handing the Canadians a preliminary round defeat, scoring the game's first goal and holding the Canadians to a 4-3 lead after two periods before surrendering two third period markers in a 6-3 defeat. Canada anticipated their semi-final opponents to be better than they were in the round robin match-up, and needed to match the Slovak intensity.
"They did a lot of good things on Saturday night," said head coach Dan Church. "But we discussed that before the game and realized that score probably had more to do with how flat we were, than how good they played. We didn't really intend to turn this into any sort of statement game, other than to prove to ourselves that we could be better."
Determined not to let the Slovaks draw first blood as they did in the round robin, Moncton forward Mariève Provost scored the game's opening goal three minutes into the opener. The Canadians spent the better part of the games opening frame in the Slovak end, outshooting them 20-3, and only the goaltending of Slovak keeper Monika Kvakova kept the game from turning into a runaway early.
The Slovaks looked to have weathered the storm, when Hill scored right at the buzzer to send the Canadians to the dressing room up a pair. Hill's goal demoralized the Slovaks heading into the break, who seemed to be ready to credit themselves with the moral victory of only being down one at the intermission.
"You could see it in their body language as they left the ice," said Church. "I thought Carly's goal really set them back. We came out with good speed in the first period and out-shot them badly. For them to get out of the period only down one would have been big for them."
As deflated as Hill's goal left the Slovaks, it energized the Canadian side. Hill scored again 77 seconds into the middle period with Wilfrid Laurier's Andrea Bevan scoring less than two minutes later to make it 4-0 and the eventual result was never in jeopardy from then on.
The Slovaks had a small victory midway through the period when Petra Jurcova beat Canadian netminder Stacey Corfield, but the Canadians further crushed the Slovak spirit with Leah Copeland scoring two goals in a 17 second span. In all, the Canadians scored five second period goals and took a comfortable 7-1 led into the final 20 minutes.
In the third, the Slovak frustrations started to boil over, and they paid for it on the scoreboard. York forward Courtney Unruh scored her second power play marker of the night to make it 8-1 before Copeland completed the hat trick to make it a 9-1 game. McGill's Vanessa Davidson capped off the scoring for Canada with the team's fifth power play marker of the evening as the Canadians assured themselves of a medal.
As they have throughout the tournament, the Canadians controlled the pace and flow of the game from start to finish, outshooting the Slovaks by a 50-9 margin. Stacey Corfield made eight saves in the victory, picked up her fourth win of the tournament.
Canada advances to the Friday's gold medal final where they will face the winner of the China-Finland semi-final.
Team Canada website: www.cisport.ca/harbin
2009 Winter Universiade website: http://en.harbin2009.org
Source: CIS Communications
