Burlington natives Emma Maltais and Renata Fast each contributed a goal while captain Marie-Philip Poulin scored twice as the Canadian women demolished Switzerland 10–3 on Sunday.
The Canadians advanced to their seventh consecutive gold medal game, having played for the top prize in every Olympic final since women’s hockey debuted at the 1998 Nagano Olympics.
Photo: BDZ Sports, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Claire Thompson added a goal and two assists, while the team exploded with five goals in the first period that were scored in just over three minutes, which all but sealed the fate of the Swiss.
Thompson has also set a tournament record for points by a defender with her two goals and ten assists.
Fast’s goal, her first of the tournament, made it 4–0 and came at the 9-minute mark of the first period off a shot from the point by Sarah Nurse, who contributed four assists herself and leads the tournament in points with 16.
For Maltais, she scored in the third period off a pass from behind the net by Laura Stacey. It was Maltais’ first career Olympic goal and just her second point of the tournament.
Poulin’s two goals came in the second period on just three shots but overall, it was a more balanced approach from Team Canada, as all 13 forwards recorded at least a point.
The opposing goaltenders were busy in this one, as Canada peppered them with 61 shots on net, compared to just 13 for Switzerland.
Through six games, Canada has outscored their opponents 54–8, setting a new Olympic record, beating the old record of 48 goals set by the 2010 Canadian women’s team.
Those five goals scored in under 3 ½ minutes in the first period also broke an Olympic record set by the Canadians in Vancouver, when that team scored five times in a span of 4:03 against Sweden.
Mélodie Daoust also made her return to the Canadian lineup, as she has been out with an injury since the first game of the tournament. She contributed an assist on Erin Ambrose’s goal in the first period.
Their opponent in the gold medal game will be the United States after they beat Finland 4–1 in the other semi-final match on Monday morning.
The Americans came into the tournament as the defending Olympic champions after beating out Canada for gold at the 2018 Games.
They have won two Olympic golds since women’s hockey was introduced, the other being the inaugural tournament in 1998.
The Canadian women have met the Americans in the gold medal game at every Olympics, with the exception being 2006 when Canada played Sweden.
Swiss captain Lara Stalder scored two of her team’s three goals and Alina Müller added a goal and an assist. They will play Finland for the bronze medal on Wednesday.
Get your coffee ready, because Canada and the U.S. will battle for gold late on Wednesday, as puck drop is scheduled for 11:10 pm ET.
