USA vs Germany

USA, 11-0

The US got off to a quick start in their semifinal game, scoring their first goal about a minute in. Kendall Coyne carried the puck into the US zone and sent a pass to Hilary Knight from below the goal line, and Knight tapped it right in.

While the US dominated possession, Jennifer Harss looked great in the first period—the only other goal she allowed in the first, from Kelli Stack, deflected off a German defender. Germany had a few good chances, but their method of stifling defense didn’t work as well against the US as it did against Russia. The faster Americans were much less fazed by it, and had an easier time of carrying the puck into the zone.

The second period was when the wheels came off the wagon for the German team. The US scored five goals in about five minutes, starting off with a power-play goal from Coyne.

The Americans then added goals from Emily Pfalzer, Jocelyne Lamoreux-Davidson, Coyne (again), and Megan Keller. After the Keller goal, Harss was pulled—presumably, so she could rest for the bronze medal game tomorrow against Finland—and German coach Benjamin Hinterstocker put in Ivonne Schroder. That stemmed the flow of goals, but Germany still only registered one shot in the second period.

The third was more of the same, with the US adding four more goals, from Amanda Pelkey, Monique Lamoreux-Morando, Haley Skarupa, and Alex Carpenter. The Americans cruised to an easy win, registering more goals (11) than the Germans had shots on goal (8).

Women’s World Championship Recap: Canada beats Finland 4-0

Russia vs Sweden

Russia 4-3 (SO)

This was an unusual game on a number of fronts. For unknown reasons, Sweden came into this game without Sara Grahn, their starter for every game in the tournament thus far. The Russians racked up 26 penalty minutes in the second period alone, including two 10 minute misconducts.

The scoring was a little more standard. Swedish defender Johanna Fallman scored the only two goals of the first two periods. The Russians pulled starter Maria Sorokina after the second goal, which came only 42 seconds into the second period. Nadezhda Alexandrova, who has been their best goalie, came in and shut down the rest of the Swedish power play throughout the period.

The Russians finally started scoring in the third, first tying the game, then going ahead 3-2 on a goal by Olga Sosina. Pernilla Winberg tied the game up for Sweden with just over two minutes to go. The game went to overtime and finally a shootout where Fanuza Kadirova got the game winning goal.

Final ranking: Russia 5, Sweden 6. The rest of the rankings will be settled tomorrow.

Czech Republic vs Switzerland

Switzerland, 3-2 (OT)

The Czechs forced overtime but Switzerland forced a game three. Tereza Vanišová scored both goals for the Czechs. Nicole Bullo and  Lara Stalder scored in regulation for the Swiss, with the game winner coming from Christine Meier.

Tomorrow is the big day: both medal games and the final relegation game! We’ll have a preview/game day thread up tomorrow morning.

Women's HockeyIIHF World Championships