±«ÓãÖ±²¥'s Hill provides semifinal thrill in China
By Earl Zukerman, ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ & Michel Bélanger, CIS
HARBIN, China -- ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ Carly Hill of Dorval, Que., scored
twice, including the eventual game winner and Martlet teammate
Vanessa Davidson of Kirkland, added a goal and two assists as
Canada advanced to the gold medal final in women's hockey, with a
10-1 semifinal win over Slovakia at the 24th Winter Universiade in
Harbin, China.
Two other ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ players each earned a pair of assists, including
defenceman Cathy Chartrand of Lac Nominingue, Que., and ±«ÓãÖ±²¥
Alyssa Cecere of Brossard, Que.
"They did a lot of good things (against us in a 6-3 preliminary
round win for Canada) on Saturday night," said head coach Dan
Church. "But we discussed that before the game and realized that
score probably had more to do with how flat we were, than how good
they played. We didn't really intend to turn this into any sort of
statement game, other than to prove to ourselves that we could be
better."
Moncton ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ Mariève Provost scored the first goal three minutes
into the game. The Canadians outshot Slovakia 20-3 in the period
and only the goaltending of Slovak keeper Monika Kvakova kept the
game from turning into an early rout.
The Slovaks looked to have weathered the storm, until Hill scored a
demoralizing goal right at the buzzer to send the Canadians to the
dressing room up a pair.
"You could see it in their body language as they left the ice,"
said head coach Dan Church. "I thought Carly's goal really set them
back. We came out with good speed in the first period and outshot
them badly. For them to get out of the period only down one would
have been big for them."
As deflated as Hill's goal left the Slovaks, it energized the
Canadian side. Hill scored again 77 seconds into the middle period,
followed by a goal from Laurier's Andrea Bevan less than two
minutes later to make it 4-0.
The Slovaks came to life midway through the period when Petra
Jurcova beat Canadian netminder Stacey Corfield, but Leah Copeland
replied twice in a 17 second span as Canada took a comfortable 7-1
lead into the final stanza.
York ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ Courtney Unruh scored her second powerplay marker of
the night to make it 8-1 before Copeland completed a hat-trick to
make it 9-1. Davidson capped off the scoring with the team's fifth
powerplay marker of the evening.
As they have throughout the tournament, the Canadians controlled
the pace and flow of the game from start to finish, outshooting the
Slovaks by a 50-9 margin. Stacey Corfield made eight saves in the
victory, picked up her fourth win of the tourney.
Canada advances to the Friday's gold medal final where they will
face the winner of the China-Finland semifinal.
Team Canada website:
2009 Winter Universiade website:
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