There’s Still Pride in 7-0 Loss

Strange as it might sound, the most impressive performance in Canada’s 7-0 victory over Kazakhstan in the women’s hockey preliminary round came from the losing goaltender.

At times, Kazakhstan’s Natalya Trunova looked like a cartoon character scrambling to catch every plate from a falling stack of dishes. She faced a staggering 66 shots and managed to turn away 59.

Five of Canada’s goals came on power plays. And five of them came off rebounds, as Kazakhstan’s defenders repeatedly failed to clear the hard-charging Canadians from the crease.

“She played a great game,” said Canadian forward Cherie Piper, who had a goal and an assist. “Our hats are off to her.”

Trunova used every covered inch of her 5-foot-5 body--and more--to stop shots, from her skates to her helmet. She even came 15 feet in front of the net to snatch an airborne puck. And when Canada’s Isabelle Chartrand casually slid the puck toward the net after an offside call, Trunova kicked that away too.

One play typified how her day went. She reached to her left to make a great glove save against Vicky Sunohara, but she couldn’t hold the puck and Sunohara scored on the rebound.

By the third period, Trunova looked spent. She dropped to one knee in rare moments when the puck was at the other end of the ice. (Her counterpart, Kim St.-Pierre, faced only 11 shots.

Nevertheless, the crowd cheered louder with every save Trunova made in the third period.

“I could feel the support in the third period from the people around here,” Trunova said. “But I definitely could feel the support of all the people in Kazakhstan as well.”

The game represented progress for Kazakhstan, which doesn’t have any women’s hockey leagues. It lost its last game to Canada, 11-0.

For Canada, these Games represent glorified practice laps around the rink until an expected gold-medal showdown against the United States.

“The U.S. is in the back of our minds,” Jennifer Botterill said.

The Canadians were a little disappointed that they didn’t get more shots past Trunova. But their team clearly played at a higher level than Kazakhstan.

Hayley Wickenheiser had two goals and an assist.