Murray Wood: Who's hot... and who's not
Every Friday, Murray Wood takes a look at the week's news and decides who's hot... and who's not. This week's list inclu...
Canada and the United States remain on a collision course to meet in the women’s hockey gold-medal game at the Beijing Winter Olympics.
The U.S. beat the Czech Republic 4-1 in one quarterfinal Friday, while Canada hammered Sweden 11-0 in another.
The Canadians and Americans have met in the women’s final in five of the six Olympic tournaments held to date, and in 19 of the 20 finals at the women’s world championships.
The U.S. beat Canada in the 2018 gold-medal game at the Pyeongchang Olympics, snapping Canada’s streak of four straight gold medals.
The teams’ semifinal matchups depend on what happens in Saturday’s quarterfinals, which pit the Russians against Switzerland and Finland against Japan.
The semifinals are set for Sunday night and Monday morning Saskatchewan time.
Brianne Jenner (Oakville, Ont.) and Sarah Fillier (Georgetown, Ont.) each had a hat trick for Canada against the Swedes. Marie-Philip Poulin (Beauceville, Que.) and Sarah Nurse (Hamilton) had four assists apiece and Claire Thompson (Toronto) had three helpers.
Saskatoon’s Emily Clark scored her first goal of the tournament for Canada. Jamie Lee Rattray (Kanata, Ont.), Natalie Spooner (Scarborough, Ont.), Erin Ambrose (Keswick, Ont.) and Blayre Turnbull (Stellarton, N.S.) had the other goals for the Canadians, who outshot the Swedes 56-11.
So far in Beijing, Canada has outscored its opponents 44-5.
The Canadian men’s team is to return to action Friday night against the United States.
Long-track speed skating: Moose Jaw’s Graeme Fish was sixth in the men’s 10,000-metre final with a time of 12 minutes 58.80 seconds, with Ted-Jan Bloemen (Calgary) eighth at 13:01.39.
Sweden’s Nils van der Poel blitzed the field, setting a world record with a time of 12:30.74 to win the gold by 13.85 seconds.
Alpine skiing: In the women’s Super-G, Marie-Michele Gagnon (Lac Etchemin, Que.) finished 14th, with Roni Remme (Collingwood, Ont.) 24th.
Biathlon: Emma Lunder (Vernon, B.C.) finished 32nd in the women’s 7.5-kilometre sprint, with Megan Bankes (Calgary) 77th, Sarah Beaudry (Prince George, B.C.) 80th and Emily Dickson (Burns Lake, B.C.) 81st.
Cross-country skiing: Olivier Leveille (Sherbrooke) led Canada’s contingent in the men’s 15-kilometre Classic with a 29th-place finish. Remi Drolet (Rossland, B.C.) was 33rd, with Antoine Cyr (Gatineau, Que.) 37th.
Curling: Canada’s teams both lost their first games Friday.
On the men’s side, Switzerland scored one in the eighth, stole one in the ninth and ran Canada out of rocks in the 10th en route to a 5-3 victory.
Brad Gushue (St. John’s, N.L.), Mark Nichols (St. John’s, N.L.), Brett Gallant (Charlottetown, P.E.I.) and Geoff Walker (Edmonton) fell to 2-1. They’re to face Sweden early Saturday morning.
Canada’s entry skipped by Jennifer Jones (Winnipeg) fell to 1-1 in the women’s competition after an 8-5 loss to Japan.
Jones, Kaitlyn Lawes (Winnipeg), Jocelyn Peterman (Red Deer) and Dawn McEwen (Winnipeg) are to face Sweden on Friday night.
Short-track speed skating: In the women’s 1,000m, Courtney Sarault (Moncton, N.B.) and Alyson Charles (Montreal) were eliminated in the quarterfinal round.
Canada’s men’s team won its semifinal in the 5,000m relay to advance to the final, which is set for Wednesday.
Skeleton: Blake Enzie (Calgary) finished 20th in the men’s event.
