Canada cruises past Switzerland to reach gold-medal game in women's hockey

BEIJING (AP) — Claire Thompson had a goal and two assists and Canada erupted for five first-period goals in an Olympic-record span of 3:24 en route to a 10-3 win over Switzerland in the women’s hockey semifinals at the Beijing Games on Monday.

The Canadians continued their run of appearing in every Olympic final since women’s hockey made its debut at the 1998 Nagano Games, and set up a potential showdown against the United States on Thursday. The defending champion Americans play Finland in a rematch of their preliminary round-opening game in the tournament’s other semifinal later in the day.

Marie-Philip Poulin scored twice, Sarah Nurse had four assists and Ann-Renee Desbiens stopped 10 shots.

Canada continued to steamroll through the tournament with its sixth consecutive victory. The Canadians set a single Olympic tournament record with 54 goals, though the previous mark of 48 goals scored by Canada at the 2010 Vancouver Games came in only five games.

The five goals scored in under 3 1/2 minutes broke the previous record set by the Canadians in 2010, when they scored five times in a 4:03 span in a 13-1 win over Sweden.

Thompson started the run 7:16 into the game when her shot from the high slot banked in off the left post. The first-time Olympian then made a splendid move in setting up Blayre Turnbull’s goal to put Canada up 3-0. Thompson sidestepped a Swiss defender, drove to the net and made a no-look pass into the slot, where Turnbull one-timed into the open left side.

Switzerland captain Lara Stalder had two goals and an assist and Alina Muller had a goal and assist for the Swiss, who will play in the bronze-medal game on Wednesday. The Swiss are making their fifth Olympic appearance and have a chance to medal for the second time after winning bronze at the 2014 Sochi Games.

Andrea Braendli allowed four goals on 18 shots before being pulled. Saskia Mauer finished the game, allowing six goals on 43 shots.

Credit the Swiss for not sagging after opening the tournament with a 12-1 loss to Canada. Switzerland became the fourth opponent to score three or more goals in regulation against Canada in Olympic competition, and first since the Canadians’ 7-3 win over Finland at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.

Muller cut Canada’s lead to 5-2 by converting Stalder’s pass on a 2-on-1 break 4:59 into the second period. Poulin and Emily Clark, however, responded by scoring 11 seconds apart to put Canada up 7-2 at the 8:03 mark of the period.

A U.S. win over Finland would lead to the sixth of seven Olympic gold-medal showdowns between the cross-border rivals. The only time they’ve not met in the championship game came at the 2006 Turin Games when the United States lost to Sweden in the semifinals.

Canada has won four gold medals to the U.S.’s two, but is coming off a 3-2 shootout championship loss to the Americans at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.

The Americans closed the preliminary round with a 4-2 loss to the Canadians Canada rallied from a 2-1 deficit by scoring three times over a second-period span of 5:25.

The United States, by comparison, has struggled with finishing chances while also playing without top-line center Brianna Decker, who broke her leg in a tournament-opening 5-2 win over Finland.

The Americans entered the day fifth among 10 teams in scoring efficiency with 24 goals on a tournament-leading 292 shots. Their power play ranked fourth in converting five of 24 opportunities.

NOTES: Canada F Melodie Daoust had an assist in her first game since sustaining an upper body injury in the tournament-opener against Switzerland. ... Nurse now has 16 points (four goals, 12 assists), which are the second-most in a single Olympic tournament. The record of 17 points was set by Canada’s Hayley Wickenheiser, who did so in five games in 2006. ... Jenner scored her tournament-leading ninth goal.

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