Shewchuk Scores For Canada

Given that Canadian forward Tammy Shewchuk ’00-’01 scored a school record 152 goals in her career for the Harvard women’s hockey team, it’s no surprise that it took just one game to notch the first goal of her Olympic career.

“It certainly was a long-awaited accomplishment. The first one is always the toughest to get,” wrote Shewchuk in an e-mail.

Her score came at 3:49 of the second period as she beat Kazakh goaltender Natalya Trunova five-hole to give Canada a 4-0 lead.

The Canadians went on to win their Olympic opener 7-0, outshooting Kazakhstan 66-11 along the way. Assistant captains Hayley Wickenheiser and Vicky Sunohara led Canada with two goals apiece.

A crowd of 7,321 watched Shewchuk’s feat yesterday morning at the E Center in the Salt Lake City. Though Shewchuk considered it to be an important moment, she naturally expects the best is yet to come.

“I hope there are a lot more goals that will turn out to be much more significant as the competition goes on,” Shewchuk said.

Trunova made 59 saves to limit the Canadians to single digits. She kept Shewchuk’s current Canadian and former Harvard linemate Jennifer Botterill ’02-’03 off the scoreboard. The result was an improvement for Kazakhstan from last year’s International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Championships, where Canada triumphed 11-0.

“They’re definitely stronger then they were last year,” Shewchuk said to the IIHF. “Their goalie played one heck of a game. You have to take your hat off to her. She does hit the ice quite early and we had to adjust ourselves to get the rebounds up high.”

Shewchuk wasn’t the only Canadian to score her first Olympic goal. Cherie Piper, the 20-year old forward who plans to play for Dartmouth next year, accomplished the same feat in the first period.

Piper’s place on the team had been shrouded with controversy, as Canadian Coach Danielle Sauvageau replaced veteran Nancy Drolet with Piper just a month before the Olympics. Drolet appealed the decision to an arbitrator, but her appeal was denied, leaving the team in a state of uncertainty in between.

“I think it effects us to some extent,” Botterill said on Sunday. “We all really support Nancy, but we all also really support Cherie. But it’s a decision our coach thought was best for our team. Ultimately as an athlete you have to just focus on playing.”

The Canadians will now turn their focus to tomorrow’s game with Russia, the 2001 World Championship bronze medalist who fell 3-2 to Sweden yesterday afternoon.

While Canada has the day off, the U.S. will open its Olympic schedule against Germany this morning. The game will be televised on MSNBC at 1 p.m.

Though the U.S. and Canada will both be heavily favored until they play each other, neither team intends to let down in the meantime.

“We want to play as hard as we can and look at every game as a championship game,” Shewchuk said.