Hi Everyone,
Today is the big final against team USA. I cannot believe how fast the tournament has gone by! We are exactly where we want to be facing exactly who we want to face. Adding to that I would say that we want to face their best performance so we can exceed it! And I have no doubt that we will face an American team ready to battle! OUr team has progressed nicely over the tournament with our young players gaining more and more confidence as the tournament went on. Hopefully, we will have our best yet today!
Here’s my comments from an interview with www.winih.com about our game against Sweden last night! Thanks for reading! Caro
Close game; no scoring in first; what happened to Canada?
We faced a Kim Martin that was incredible. We did not do a enough good job screening her and battling to get to rebounds. We had several good chances but could not finish. Shannon Szabados also played great in the 1st making key saves while Sweden was on the Power Play
Talk about Swedish goalie and why she is so hard to beat?
Kim Martin is really good technically. She moves quickly and is able to anticipate the play like not many goalies have the ability to. She plays with so much composure that it gives her players in front of her confidence. She can win games on her own. In 2008 we won the National Championship with UMD when I was an assistant coach there and Kim Martin was a key component of that championship tournament performance. I will never forget how great she was. She seems like she was able to recover fully from past injuries that had her miss competition.
You scored in second for Canada; tell us what happened?
My goal was off an offensive zone low play. I cycled the puck to Nath Spooner who moved the puck east to west behind the net to Wick. I then came across in the high slot and got a nice pass to Wisk that I redirected over Kim’s right shoulder. Unfortunately, only a few minutes later Elin Holmlov scored one of the nicest goals i have seen beating 3 of our players and Szaby on a very nice deke.
Tied going into third; what did Dan say in dressing room and anyone else?
Dan talked about taking pride in winning the battles in every zone. We were working very hard trying to create offence in the offensive zone but did not seem to work as well in our back checking or transition game. We also needed to play better physically and make contact on the puck carrier. Sweden’s goal was a bit of us playing the puck and not taking the body. The players also talked about making simple plays. Execute first pass we see open. Getting traffic in front and burying rebounds.
Canada has a lot of rookies on defence…how are they doing in terms of confidence and settling into the team and the event?
I think they have been doing great and played with more and more confidence as the tournament went on. Courtney Birtchard has been very good offensively making creative plays and taking great shots on net.
You are having an excellent tournament; talk about why it is going well and your linemates since this is a new line up for you?
Things have been going well for my line. Wick, Spooner and I have been able to create scoring chances in all games and seem to be more and more comfortable with one another. Wick is having a great tournament which makes everyone looks good. She supports the puck well and has won battle in our zone enable us to transition quickly to offence. Spooner is very skilled and talented and has been creating some nice chances.
I believe the lines will stay relatively the same for the final game against team USA. We know that the intensity is once again going to go up and that they will be ready to revenge their loss. We have to match or exceed their intensity and drive. I think that we are ready for a great hockey game. We want a gold medal performance that can hopefully give us a good chance at winning!