MOSCOW, April 9 (R-Sport) - Canada demolished Russia 8-1 in the semifinals of the world women’s hockey championships to continue its defense of the title in a final against the United States in Ottawa.
Host team Canada and the U.S. continue their record of contesting every world championship final since the tournament began in 1990, while Russia and Finland will fight for the bronze medal.
"You never take any team or game for granted in a tournament like this, so we're happy with how tonight went and now we can focus on the gold-medal game," Canadian forward Jayna Hefford said on the tournament website.
While Russia’s margin of defeat was less embarrassing than the 14-1 thrashing meted out by Canada at last year’s world championships, it still illustrates the vast gulfs that still exist in modern women’s hockey and the likelihood that Russian ambitions at next year’s home Winter Olympics at Sochi will be limited to the bronze medal.
Russia captain Yekaterina Smolntseva said her team had assumed they would lose and instead prepared to face Finland for the bronze.
"We were preparing for tomorrow's game with the Finns," she said on the Russian Hockey Federation website. "The main thing is not to lose heart, we've got everything ahead of us. For our development, we need to play more often against North American teams to reach their level."
For Canada, Marie Philip-Poulin claimed two goals and leads the tournament standings with seven.
The host team dominated from the start going 20-4 on shots in a first period in which only Russian goaltender Anna Prugova prevented the Canadians scoring more than one goal, from Haley Irwin.
Three goals in a minute in the second period killed off any Russian hopes of a sensational upset win, although Svetlana Tkachyova’s goal past home netminder Shannon Szabados meant the Canadians conceded for the first time in 192 game minutes.
Earlier, the other semifinal saw the U.S. take a 3-0 win over Finland, but only after 53 minutes in which goaltender Noora Raty stopped every shot she faced. Earlier, the Finns thought they had scored in the second period, but a video review ruled the puck did not cross the line.
The final and bronze medal game will be played Tuesday. The Canadians are hunting an 11th world gold medal, while a U.S. victory would be their fifth triumph and revenge for last year’s 5-4 overtime final defeat to Canada in Zurich.
Russia, with former NHL star Alexei Yashin as general manager, has not won a medal since 2001 and faces a Finnish team that has never missed the bronze game at the world championships, taking third place on 10 occasions.
