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SASKATOON — Canadian goaltender Emerance Maschmeyer exorcised a painful memory in helping her country advance to the final of the Four Nations Cup women’s hockey tournament.
The 24-year-old from Bruderheim, Alta., posted a 14-save shutout in Canada’s 3-0 win over Finland on Friday.
It was Maschmeyer’s first international start since giving up three goals on 11 shots and getting pulled in the second period of a preliminary-round game against Finland at the 2017 world championship.
Finland beat Canada for the first time in international women’s hockey that day in a 4-3 decision.
“For me personally, the last time I played them it was not the outcome I wanted and so for me it was a little bit of redemption today,” Maschmeyer said Friday.
“It kind of closes that door and it’s kind of onward and upward now.”
Canada (2-1) wants to wrest one women’s hockey title away from the United States (3-0) when the two countries clash for the gold medal Saturday at the SaskTel Centre.
Finland (1-2) meets Sweden (0-3) for bronze.
The Americans have won three straight Four Nations titles. They’re also the reigning Olympic and world champions.
“We want it really bad,” Canadian forward Melodie Daoust said. “We’re going to see Canada fierce and ready to play them. We know we can beat them, so it’s just a matter of time and sticking with the plan.”
Daoust scored 25 seconds after the opening faceoff and Rebecca Johnston again at 4:55 on veteran goaltender Noora Raty on Friday.
But Raty held the hosts at bay after that with 45 saves overall in the game. Laura Stacey scored an empty-net goal for Canada.
“You know with this goalie, you need a lot of pressure on her,” Daoust said. “You need to be in front of her eyes and shoot the puck.
“I think we did a great job of finding the back of the net because she is a great goalie.”
Raty broke her stick during a Canadian power play in the second period. She tended her net for almost two minutes with a skinny stick handed to her by a teammate.
“First time for everything,” Raty said. “I was trying to get a break or a whistle so I could get rid of that stick.”
The Finns had just 16 skaters Friday, which was one more than they had in a 3-2 win over the Swedes on Wednesday.
Illness began working its way through the team after playing an exhibition game against Canada in Prince Albert, Sask., on Sunday.
“We were missing our first line, some key players and players keep going down, so really proud of our effort and nothing-to-lose mentality,” Raty said.
“The start wasn’t what we wanted, but I think the battle and effort was there today.”
Canada had a few unwell players that didn’t finish Tuesday’s 6-1 win over the Swedes, but was not as hard hit by the bug as the Finns were.
Canada and Finland were each scoreless on four power-play chances.
Forward Brianne Jenner drew back into Canada’s lineup after sitting out the first two games of the tournament with an undisclosed injury.
The U.S. doubled Canada 2-1 in a preliminary-round game Wednesday.
“They’re really good at creating turnovers, so we need to manage the puck better than we did against them,” Daoust said.
Hannah Brandt had a goal and an assist and Melissa Samoskevich scored a short-handed goal for the U.S. in a 5-1 victory over the Swedes earlier Friday.
Sydney Brodt, Brianna Decker and Dani Cameranesi rounded out the scoring for the Americans. Goaltender Emma Polusny had 18 saves for the win.
Sweden’s Sabina Kuller scored and Emma Soderberg stopped 34 of 39 shots in the loss.
Donna Spencer, The Canadian Press
