After running into a hot offence Tuesday against Team USA to conclude round-robin play, Team Canada entered the elimination round in search of a scoring spark in Thursday’s quarterfinal matchup against Sweden.
Canada’s head coach Troy Ryan made that clear with his line-juggling to open the game, giving second-line centre Sarah Fillier a pair of new wingers, bumping Victoria Bach up to play alongside Marie-Philip Poulin and Breanne Jenner and using Sarah Potomak as the 13th forward.
While the Canucks came away with a 3-0 victory that was never truly in doubt in Denmark, the goals didn’t exactly come easily — and it wasn’t for lack of trying on Canada’s part. Swedish goaltender Emma Soderberg had a remarkable outing, saving a whopping 53 shots in the loss.
Canadian forward and assistant captain Blayre Turnbull called the game “a test of our patience, but also a test of our discipline” and commended her teammates for staying true to their game.
“It’s really easy in games like that to become very individual and try to solve the problem by yourself and stray away from our team systems,” she told reporters after the game. “I’m really proud of our group that we stuck to our game plan despite not having the offensive success that we wanted to have.”
Veteran Canadian defender Jocelyne Larocque opened the scoring with a milestone marker late in the first period — her first career goal at the world championships in 43 appearances — while Sarah Potomak and Erin Ambrose rounded out the win.
Next up for Team Canada is a date with Team Switzerland in the semifinals on Saturday. By the time they suit up, we’ll know whether there’s a rematch against the Americans at stake or whether Czechia — winners against Finland on Thursday — will have managed another remarkable upset.
But first, here’s a collection of takeaways from Canada’s win against Sweden to advance to the semifinals.
Soderberg stands tall, but Swedes fall in quarterfinals
The score alone doesn’t tell the full story of this Canada-Sweden matchup. The shot count does, though. Canada outshot the Swedes by a massive margin on Thursday: 57-8, including a 24-1 count in the third period alone.
Amid a sea of shots, Swedish keeper Emma Soderberg stood tall, letting in just one goal per period and limiting the kinds of dangerous rebounds teams like Canada usually feast on. (Credit should go to the Swedish defence for that, too — since these teams last met in an 11-0 quarterfinals blowout at the Olympics, they clearly learned that clogging up the lanes is the key to any hopes of victory.)
Playing in her first women’s worlds as Sweden’s starter six months after making her Olympic debut, Soderberg made an incredible 53 saves opposite Canada’s Ann-Renee Desbiens, who earned a nine-shot shutout.
Soderberg, who was named Sweden’s top player of the game to the surprise of exactly no one, said after the game that she felt she was able to remain calmer in this game compared to her first meeting with Canada back in Beijing. Her performance, and the improved play of Sweden, speaks to the program potentially being on the upswing overall. Since earning silver at the 2006 Olympics, Sweden’s women’s program hasn’t been able to build on its success and was even relegated from the top group at the worlds in 2019.
Poulin tallies historic helper
A special moment for Larocque was made all the better considering her first career world championship goal was setup by longtime teammate and captain Marie-Philip Poulin. That helper was Poulin’s 100th on the international stage, making her the sixth Canadian woman to hit that milestone behind Hayley Wickenheiser, Jayna Hefford, Caroline Ouellette, Jennifer Botterill and Danielle Goyette.
“It’s special but even more special that it was on Jocelyne’s first goal at the world championship, that makes it even more fun,” Poulin said of the achievement.
Victoria Bach thrives on top line
After just missing the cut to join Team Canada at the Olympic Games earlier this year, Victoria Bach is back on the national team and on Thursday she reminded everyone why. Bach opened the tournament in more of a depth role but on Tuesday saw her strong play in Denmark rewarded when she was bumped up to the top line. That’s a familiar spot for the 26-year-old, who played there during last year’s women’s worlds.
While she didn’t land on the scoresheet against the Swedes, Bach created several key chances and smart passing plays alongside Poulin and showed off her impressive speed at both ends of the ice. Her five shots on goal tied her with Jenner for second-most in this game behind shots leader Poulin (nine).
Now, the question heading into the semifinals will be: Will Bach once again be on the top line against the Swiss?
Potomak steps into spotlight
As part of Ryan’s line-shuffling, Sarah Potomak saw her playing time take a hit as she entered this game as the 13th forward. Rather than fading into the background, however, the 24-year-old skated right into the spotlight with an absolutely gorgeous goal in the second period.
Potomak has fought for every minute of playing time on the national team, and even being named to the roster was a battle. Prior to this tournament, she last appeared at the worlds back in 2017 as a sophomore at the University of Minnesota. With a trio key forwards missing from Canada’s roster this year (Natalie Spooner, Rebecca Johnston, Melodie Daoust), Potomak has seized the opportunity and shows no signs of slowing down.
Potomak also registered an assist on Ambrose’s third-period goal and was named Canada’s player of the game for her efforts.
