Thursday, February 26, 2009
Canada at a Glance - Day 9What Canada Did on Thursday, February 26 at the 24th Winter UniversiadeBIATHLONCanada’s biathletes did not compete on day 9 of the games.The next competition for the biathletes is Friday’s mixed relay eventCROSS COUNTRY SKIINGCanada's cross-country skiers did not compete on day 9 of the games. The next competition for the cross-country skiers is Friday’s Men’s 30km event.MENS CURLINGSkipped by Laurier’s Mike Anderson, Canada’s Men’s curling finished the round-robin in sixth place at 4-5 – they did not advance to the medal roundWOMENS CURLINGSkipped by Laurier’s Hollie Nicol, Canada defeated Great Britain 7-5 in the semifinal to advance to Friday's gold medal match.Canada will meet world silver medalist Bingyu Wang of China for gold.MENS HOCKEYCanada’s Men’s hockey team enjoyed a day off on day 9 of the games.Canada will face Slovakia in one of two Friday semifinals, Russia and Kazakhstan will meet in the other.WOMENS HOCKEYCanada’s Women’s Hockey team advance to the gold medal final with a 10-1 win over Slovakia in one of two Thursday night semifinals. Canada will face either Finland or China in Friday's finalLONG TRACK SPEED SKATINGThe Canadian men have finished their Universiade competition* * *On the women's side, The Canadians competed in the team pursuit event.Ste-Foy, Quebec's Justine L'Heureux combined with Calgary skaters Kirsti Lay and Shannon Sibold for a 6th place performance - posting a time of 3:12.64.The Canadians failed to advance to the medal skate - but posted a time of 3:13.45 in a consolation side skateSHORT TRACK SPEED SKATINGCanada's short track speed skaters have completed their Universiade competition.Canada’s combined medal count stands at three – two silver and a bronze.
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4:05 AM WHKY - Slovakian Semifinal ShowdownYork forward Carly Hill scored the eventual game winner at the final buzzer of the first period as Canada's hopes of a gold medal in women’s hockey remained on track, thanks to their 10-1 semifinal win over Slovakia at the 24th Winter Universiade. View IIHF scoresheet here -
http://http://app.harbin2009.org/wu24info/pdf/bq/0211173E.PDFThe Slovaks came closest to handing the Canadians a preliminary round defeat, scoring the game's first goal and holding the Canadians to a 4-3 lead after two periods before surrendering two third period markers in a 6-3 defeat. Canada anticipated their semifinal opponents to be better than they were in the round robin matchup, and needed to match the Slovak intensity."They did a lot of good things on Saturday night," said head coach Dan Church. "But we discussed that before the game and realized that score probably had more to do with how flat we were, than how good they played. We didn’t really intend to turn this into any sort of statement game, other than to prove to ourselves that we could be better."Determined not to let the Slovaks draw first blood as they did in the round robin, Moncton forward Mariève Provost scored the game’s opening goal three minutes into the opener. The Canadians spent the better part of the games opening frame in the Slovak end, outshooting them 20-3, and only the goaltending of Slovak keeper Monika Kvakova kept the game from turning into a runaway early. The Slovaks looked to have weathered the storm, when Hill scored right at the buzzer to send the Canadians to the dressing room up a pair. Hill's goal demoralized the Slovaks heading into the break, who seemed to be ready to credit themselves with the moral victory of only being down one at the intermission."You could see it in their body language as they left the ice,” said head coach Dan Church. “I thought Carly’s goal really set them back. We came out with good speed in the first period and outshot them badly. For them to get out of the period only down one would have been big for them.” As deflated as Hill’s goal left the Slovaks, it energized the Canadian side. Hill scored again 77 seconds into the middle period with Wilfrid Laurier’s Andrea Bevan scoring less than two minutes later to make it 4-0 and the eventual result was never in jeopardy from then on. The Slovaks had a small victory midway through the period when Petra Jurcova beat Canadian netminder Stacey Corfield, but the Canadians further crushed the Slovak spirit with Leah Copeland scoring two goals in a 17 second span. In all, the Canadians scored five second period goals and took a comfortable 7-1 led into the final twenty minutes.
In the third, the Slovak frustrations started to boil over, and they paid for it on the scoreboard. York forward Courtney Unruh scored her second powerplay marker of the night to make it 8-1 before Copeland completed the hat trick to make it a 9-1 game. McGill’s Vanessa Davidson capped off the scoring for Canada with the team’s fifth powerplay marker of the evening as the Canadians assured themselves of a medal.
As they have throughout the tournament, the Canadians controlled the pace and flow of the game from start to finish, outshooting the Slovaks by a 50-9 margin. Stacey Corfield made eight saves in the victory, picked up her fourth win of the tournament.Canada advances to the Friday's gold medal final where they will face the winner of the China-Finland semifinal.
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12:24 AM Wednesday, February 25, 2009
WCURL - Canada Goes for Gold on FridayCanadian third Danielle Inglis did what any young woman would want do on her 21st birthday – she spent the day hanging out with friends, receiving birthday greetings from her family and running up the credit card at the shopping mall.Oh yeah – and she hooked up with the rest of her Team Canada mates, beat Great Britain 7-5 in the semifinals of the 24th Winter Universiade and set up a date with Chinese national hero Bingyu Wang for gold on Friday.“That was the deal,” sais Inglis. “If we won, we all got to spend the afternoon shopping. Had we lost, we would have played for bronze later this afternoon. That didn’t really seem like a very fun option to us, so we made a pact. Win – and spend the rest of the day hunting for bargains.”Whatever works, ladies. You might be able to argue the methodology – but you have to respect the results.
Entering the tournament as a self-professed ‘dark horse’, the Canadians shed any measure of obscurity they were hoping to use to their advantage with a 9-0 record in the round robin portion of the event. With the Maple Leaf on their back serving as a bulls-eye for the remaining medal contenders, the Canadians faced a stiff test in Thursday’s semifinal against Great Britain.After blanking the opening end, the Brits stole one in the 2nd to open the scoring. Canada got that back with a single in the 3rd, and the teams blanked the fourth.The fifth end was a little dicey for the Canadians as they made a handful of half-shots in a row – setting up Great Britain for a big end. Sarah Reid took advantage of the Canadian miscues and cracked a four-ender in the 5th taking a 5-1 lead into the break.“I guess if it’s going to happen, it’s good that it happened in the fifth,” said Canadian skip Hollie Nicol. “You get the longer break and better chance to regroup. Normally it only takes a couple of minutes for us to shake an end like that off.”“I just reminded them that it’s long way from over,” said Ferris. “We talked about how there was still a lot of game left to play, and they just needed to regroup and go after it. They don’t have a lot of experience at the international level, but they’ve curled a lot of games together. They know that if they hang in there and play smart, they’ll get their chances.”The girls battled back - scoring two in 7, stealing one in 8 and stunning the Brits with a steal of three in 9 to take a 7-5 lead. The Canadians ran Great Britain out of stones in the final end and secured their place in the Friday's final."I thought they did a great job staying patient," remarked Canada team coach Jennifer Ferris. "5-1 down at the break seems like a big gap, but in reality it isn't. You just try and score your deuce, and follow it with a steal. I'm a little surprised they didn't score in the back half of the game, but our girls stepped it up and forced their hand a bit at times."Great Britain's second half collapse wasn't just a matter of Canada turning up the intensity - game management in the back half of the game also played a significant role in the outcome."They were really running short on time," noted Nicol. "Even in the 9th, they were down to six-and-something. They had to hurry their shots a bit, and it's tough when you take yourself out of your rhythm."The Canadian win sets up the gold medal showdown that many were hoping they’d get. Chinese national champion Bingyu Wang is nothing short of revered at these games, and after the Nicol and company beat her 7-6 on Monday in the round robin, fans started the anticipation of a gold medal rematch.
“I think they’ll be better in the final that they were earlier in the week,” said Nicol. “They’ll have a pretty big cheering section going for them as well , but the fans will be expecting the Chinese to win. To be honest, I think it takes the pressure off us.”
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7:25 PM
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