ANTHAMATTEN STONES RUSSIANS, LEADS SWISS TO SEVENTH PLACE

As she was most of the tournament, Switzerland goaltender Sophie Anthamatten was the story in Saturday morning’s 7th-place game, making 43 saves to lead the Swiss to a 4-1 win over Russia at the 2008 IIHF World Women’s Under-18 Championship.

Anthamatten was at her best over the final 40 minutes, when the Swiss scored three unanswered goals to break open a 1-1 tie, making 32 saves.

With Switzerland on the powerplay midway through the opening period, Nina Waidacher picked up a rebound at the side of the net and backhanded the puck past Russian goaltender Anna Vinogradova for a 1-0 lead.

But the Russians would respond just over two minutes later, as a shot from Aleksandra Vafina found its way through the pads of Anthamatten, and Olga Sosina was there to bury her second of the tournament and send the game to the intermission even at 1-1.

The Swiss came out with momentum in the second period, and were rewarded when Camille Balanche’s shot deflected off the leg of the Russian defender and past Vinogradova for what would turn out to be the game winner.

Player of the Game Aline Heiz got some insurance for Switzerland just 4:02 later, finishing off a wild scramble in front of Vinogradova by pushing the puck past the Russian netminder.

The Russians picked up their play in the second half of the frame, but were unable to beat Anthamatten and, despite firing 12 shots as the Swiss goaltender, went into the dressing room down by a pair after 40 minutes.

Russia pushed hard to cut the Swiss lead in half in the third period, outshooting Switzerland 20-12 in the frame, but could not get a puck past Anthamatten and the Swiss defense.

Sara Benz wrapped up the scoring with an empty-net tally with 9.9 seconds to go, sealing the victory for Switzerland.