MILAN — The U.S. women’s hockey team beat rival Canada so badly that coach John Wroblewski issued a reminder that 5-0 win The Americans are still a long way from Olympic gold.
“What’s the hardest part of climbing a mountain?” the fourth year coach asked.
“Going home,” he said, answering his question. “If you ever felt good about climbing Mount Everest, this is the way to get down. Oh, you think you’ve done something, then the mountain eats you.”
It was a seminal meeting between two global powerhouses of the sport. The gold medal game is not until February 19.
The Americans are three wins away from their third gold medal after a lopsided win over the Canadian team in the absence of their captain and finished first in Group A entering the quarterfinals. It was a performance that continued to reaffirm why the US entered the tournament as the favourites.
“I don’t think it’s going to be any easier than expected,” forward Tessa Jenneke said of Canada’s most lopsided loss in an Olympic game, and the first time the team has suffered a loss.
“I think we’ll go in with the same mentality, and I think overall it was a good team win for us. So I think we went in and treated it like any other game. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing.”
Team USA won all four preliminary round games by a combined score of 20-1 and brought back memories of how a Canadian team at its peak won gold at the 2022 Beijing Games.
The situation has changed since then, and it was evident on the score sheet from a roster featuring seven players still in college.
The University of Wisconsin’s Caroline Harvey had a goal and two assists, with Badger teammates Layla Edwards and Kirsten Sims also scoring. It was Edwards’ first goal in his Olympic debut. She is the first black woman to represent America
University of Minnesota captain Abby Murphy scored three goals.
Canada started tentatively, and then suffered penalty problems, leaving their longtime leader Marie-Philippe Poulin out. who was injured in the lower part of the body A 5-1 win over Czechia the day before.
Not having his so-called “Captain Clutch” in the lineup was still no excuse for coach Troy Ryan.
Ryan said, “We didn’t play well at all. Irresponsible handling with the puck, like bad puck management.” “And it’s not that there wasn’t confidence, but we played like we didn’t have confidence with the puck.”
Ryan said Poulin will be re-evaluated and likely will miss Canada’s preliminary round final against Finland on Thursday. He was otherwise optimistic that Poulin would potentially be back in the lineup by Saturday for the Canadiens’ quarterfinal game.
The U.S. will open its quarterfinals against host nation Italy, which finished 2-2 in Group B for the third and final playoff spot.
Erin Frankel stopped 20 shots for her third win and second shutout in her first Olympic tournament. And 36-year-old captain Hilary Knight added an assist – the 32nd Olympic point of her career, giving Jenny Potter the lead as an American female hockey player.
“Our team is making my life a lot easier,” Frankel said. “It’s been a lot of fun playing behind him.”
And impressive to look at.
“It’s unbelievable. So much speed, so much skill,” Frankel said. “Hopefully, playing against us is really tough and disappointing.”
Whatever “O Canada” buzz there was among the large Maple Leaf flag-waving crowd outside the 11,600-seat Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena quickly died down on the drizzly day. And the soundtrack instead became the sound of the US goal song, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird”.
Harvey opened the scoring at 3:45 by driving from the left point and beating Anne-Rene Desbiens.
The Americans’ speed and quick-attacking ability were evident on their next goal with 2:42 left in the first period when Murphy followed Harvey’s pass into the right corner. Murphy immediately turned and sent a no-look pass and Bilka headed it into the net and converted the ball.
Sims made it 3-0 by jamming the puck at the line 72 seconds into the second period, and Murphy set up Bilka for another one-timer about six minutes later.
Desbiens allowed five goals on 27 shots and was pulled after Edwards scored with 8:07 remaining. He was replaced by Emerson Maschmeyer, who finished with five saves.
Canada’s worst fears were realized in opening the games without Poulin, concerns already raised when the US won a four-game exhibition pre-Olympic rivalry series. The Americans outshot Canada by a combined margin of 24–7.
The United States has defeated Canada in seven consecutive meetings since the preliminary round and gold medal game of the World Championships in April.
“We had a lot of mistakes in our game,” said Canadian assistant captain Blair Turnbull. “We would make one mistake, which would lead to another, and sometimes that would complicate things.” “I think there’s a lot of things we can learn and build on and hopefully make some positive changes.”
