GAME NOTES: Canada vs. Switzerland (August 24)

TV: TSN | TSN Direct

Group A play rolls on for Canada’s National Women’s Team, which takes on Switzerland in its penultimate preliminary-round game at the 2021 IIHF Women’s World Championship, looking to stay unbeaten.

LAST GAME

Canada got contributions from up and down its lineup in a 5-1 win over ROC on Sunday night. Five players scored goals and 13 recorded a point for the Canadians, who outshot the Russians by a one-sided 62-7 margin. Sarah Fillier opened the scoring and Ella Shelton added her first Team Canada goal to highlight the offensive output, while Ann-Renée Desbiens came within 1.3 seconds of recording a shutout.

Switzerland dropped its second in a row on Saturday night, giving up two goals in 14 seconds midway through the second period as a one-goal lead turned into a one-goal deficit in an eventual 3-1 loss to ROC. Alina Muller scored the lone marker for the Swiss, who got 31 saves from Saskia Maurer.

LAST MEETING

The teams last met at the most recent women’s worlds in 2019, a 6-0 win for the Canadians to open prelim play. Emily Clark scored twice to lead the offence, while Shannon Szabados made six saves for the shutout. Loren Gabel, Natalie Spooner, Jamie Lee Rattray and Blayre Turnbull also scored for Canada, which had a 53-6 advantage in shots – including 21-0 over the final 20 minutes.

WHAT TO WATCH

The Canadians have two wins in as many games, but they have yet to score a first-period goal. There has been little trouble scoring in the second and third (five goals each), and they directed 17 shots at ROC goaltender Nadezhda Morozova in the opening frame on Sunday, but a faster start would be welcomed.

The kids are alright for Canada; 21-year-old Fillier – the youngest player on the roster – had the winner against the Finns, and 23-year-old Shelton did the honours against the Russians. Both are playing in their first women’s worlds. The veterans – the Poulins, Spooners and Johnstons – are still doing their thing at a high level, but the future looks bright.

For the Swiss, where will the offence come from? They have just a single goal in two games, and Muller, who netted the lone tally against ROC, hobbled off with an apparent ankle injury early in the second period. History is already not on the side of Switzerland (see below), but it needs to find goals if it has any chance.

A LOOK BACK

This is about as one-sided as it gets. Canada and Switzerland have met 11 times since 1997, with the Canadians winning all 11 games and allowing just two – that’s right, TWO – goals against. At the IIHF Women’s World Championship, it’s a complete whitewash; the Canadians have won all six meetings and posted a shutout in each and every one of them.

Some of the highlights? Marie-Philip Poulin posted the sixth and most recent four-goal game in Team Canada history in a 13-0 win at the 2013 women’s worlds in Ottawa (and added an assist for good measure), and Jayna Hefford put up five points of her own in a 10-0 victory in 1999.

All-time record: Canada leads 11-0
Canada goals: 100
Switzerland goals: 2