Change in Plans Doesn’t Faze Canadian Women

When members of the Canadian women’s hockey team pictured themselves playing for the Olympic gold medal here, they always envisioned their opponents wearing red, white and blue.

The U.S. team’s stunning semifinal shootout loss to Sweden on Friday changed that picture. Canada (4-0) will face Sweden (3-1) today at the Palasport Olimpico in the first women’s Olympic or world championship final not contested by the sport’s two most prominent nations, leaving the U.S. (3-1) to play Finland (2-2) in the bronze-medal game.

The defending champion Canadians said they felt bad for the U.S. women, many of whom were their college classmates. But not that bad.

“I don’t think it’s a disappointment that we’re not playing them,” said Canadian forward Jennifer Botterill, a three-time Olympian. “We’re looking forward to the gold-medal game, and we’re focused on our performance.”

Said forward Megan Agosta, who made her Olympic debut in Turin: “No matter who it was, we were working for this and we’re ready to do whatever it takes to win.”

Canada, which has a 43-0-1 all-time record against Sweden, has used a simple formula to reach the gold-medal game: Score, score and score again, to the point where even Don Cherry, the bombastic “Hockey Night in Canada” commentator, chided them for being unsportsmanlike. Canada has outscored its opponents, 42-1, missing a perfect record only in an 8-1 victory over Sweden, and it hasn’t given up an even-strength goal in international competition since the 2004 world championships.

The top three scorers in the tournament, and four of the top five, are Canadian. Three-time Olympian Hayley Wickenheiser has five goals and 15 points, followed by Cherie Piper, with six goals and 14 points, and Gillian Apps, who has six goals and 13 points.

Maria Rooth of Sweden interrupts the scoring parade by ranking fourth, with five goals and eight points. Caroline Ouellette of Canada is next, also with eight points but on four goals and four assists.

The top-ranked goaltender is Canada’s Charline Labonte, who has saved all 34 shots she faced in two games. Sweden’s Kim Martin has stopped 67 of 70 shots, for a .957 save percentage and 1.38 goals-against average. Ranking behind her is the goalie likely to start today for Canada, Kim St. Pierre, with a .923 save percentage and 0.50 goals-against average.

Peter Eland, Sweden’s coach, said Canada and the U.S. had been his models in developing his team’s skills and strategy. The U.S. won the first women’s Olympic title, at Nagano in 1998, and Canada won at Salt Lake City.

“We want to thank the U.S.A. and Canada because they let us play so many games against them,” he said. “We learned so much from them.”

Those lessons included confidence under pressure. “I think we are a good team and we believe in ourselves,” Martin said.

The U.S. women, who had never lost to anyone but Canada in international play before Sweden stunned them Friday, have had two days to regroup. The U.S. defeated Finland, 7-3, in round-robin play Tuesday.

“The Olympic Games are full of upsets,” U.S. forward Jenny Potter said Sunday. “People fall while skiing, people fall when they have gold in their hand. That’s sports. We know that playing the Finns won’t be easy. It will be a battle.”

Not merely physically, but mentally, as well.

“We still have a chance to bring something home, and that’s a bronze medal,” U.S. forward Natalie Darwitz said. “But the third-place game is the hardest game to play.”