Canadian, U.S. Women Roll

To the surprise of no one, the U.S., Canada, Finland and Sweden filled out the women’s hockey Olympic semifinals after each team upped its record to 2-0 for the tournament.

The U.S. destroyed China 12-1 last night, and Canada outmatched Russia 7-0 on Wednesday morning. Since Finland and Sweden each won their second games as well, each of the four teams clinched first or second place in their preliminary round-robin pools and advanced to the medal round.

The three Olympic athletes expected to play hockey for Harvard next year—Canadian forward Jennifer Botterill ’02-’03, U.S. defenseman Angela Ruggiero ’02-’04 and U.S. forward Julie Chu ’06—each scored goals in their most recent games.

United States 12, China 1

Of the five athletes with Harvard ties playing hockey in Salt Lake City, only A.J. Mleczko ’97-’99 had scored an Olympic goal in Nagano. Now all five have scored in this year’s Olympics.

Ruggiero’s goal, the 11th by the U.S. against China, wasn’t a typical blueliner goal. She earned it by becoming an attacking defenseman and rushing to the top of the crease. Before China could react, she received a pass from behind the net off the stick of longtime Brown standout Katie King and finished.

Ruggiero’s rushing the net was no capricious act—it was a development in her game since joining the U.S. team.

“I’m given the opportunity to be one of the more offensive-minded defensemen on this team,” Ruggiero said earlier this year. “With that I get to rush up with the play and our forwards now cover my position at defense. It’s fun.”

Chu earned her second goal of the Olympics at the game’s halfway mark when she redirected a shot from the point by recent Minnesota graduate Courtney Kennedy.

Mleczko’s only point of the game came just 34 seconds after Chu’s goal when she set up King for a backhand at the top left of the crease. Ruggiero was credited with an assist on the play, even though the puck was clearly redirected by Karen Bye before it was received by Mleczko.

U.S. captain Cammi Granato led all scorers with a hat trick.

The Americans made China goaltender Guo Hong, nicknamed “The Great Wall of China,” look more like a great sieve, though she did stop 59 of 71 shots.

“These goalies are fantastic and they have to be,” Mleczko said prior to yesterday’s game. “We shoot on them so much that they get better and better.”

Though the U.S. dominated the second and third periods, it wasn’t nearly as successful in the first, when it scored three relatively soft goals. U.S. coach Ben Smith ’68 had what he described as an “instructional chat” with his team after the third period.

The most noticeable miscue of the night came in the second period, when U.S. goaltender Sarah Tueting let a soft China shot from just inside the blue line trickle in between her legs and into the net. She only had to face 10 shots all evening.

“I was surprised and I think Sarah Tueting was surprised,’’ Smith said. “Those are difficult plays to handle on that type of bounce. Sometimes those type of shots can be a little baffling.”

The U.S. next plays Finland at 1 p.m. tomorrow to determine the winner of Pool B. The closest the Fins have come to beating the U.S. was in the 2000 World Championships when they blew a 3-1 lead to the U.S. en route to a 4-3 loss.

Canada 7, Russia 0

Botterill’s goal, the first of her Olympic career, came in the third period off a deflection on from the right side of the crease. She redirected a high shot from Vicky Sunohara perfectly down to the ice in between the Russian goaltender’s legs.

The most important goal of Botterill’s national team career—the ultimate game-winner against the U.S. in the world championship gold medal game—had also been on a similar kind of redirection at the edge of the crease. Botterill said such goals have come through instinct, not through repetition.

“It’s not something I’ve practiced too much,” Botterill said. “When you get into the game, your hand-eye coordination is there.”

Canada outshot Russia 60-6. St. Lawrence’s Isabelle Chartrand scored her first career Olympic goal on a blue-line shot, and Dartmouth signee Cherie Piper scored the second the goal of her Olympics. Piper, once one of team’s final cuts, has established herself since being reinstated.

“Obviously she’s played well, and the whole team is happy for her,” Botterill said.

Botterill said that it was hard to tell how well the team’s level of play against Russia, the 2001 World Championships bronze medalist, would translate against the United States, though she did say several of Canada’s goals were high-quality.

“It’s important to work on your execution for each game, so what you do is going to work in the bigger games,” Botterill said.

Shewchuk was held off the scoreboard against Russia, leaving her with one goal for the tournament after scoring against Kazakhstan.

“It’s a short tournament and you want to make sure that you take advantage of your chances,” Shewchuk told the Ottawa Sun prior to the game.

Canada is in the middle of a two-day break. The team practiced during the day and attended a reception during the evening.

“Most of our time is planned so there’s just the right amount of rest and recovery,” Botterill said.

Canada’s next opponent will be Sweden, who features Minnesota-Duluth standouts Maria Rooth and Erika Holst. First place in Pool A will be decided tomorrow night at 9 p.m.