GAME STATS: CANADA 5, SWITZERLAND 0

CALGARY, Alta. – Natalie Spooner (Scarborough, Ont.) tipped in a pair of goals and Mélodie Daoust (Valleyfield, Que.) added a goal and two assists as Canada’s National Women’s Team blanked Switzerland 5-0 on Tuesday night at the 2021 IIHF Women’s World Championship.

The win sets up a titanic clash for first place in Group A between Canada and the United States on Thursday night (6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT) to close out the preliminary round.

Emily Clark (Saskatoon, Sask.) and Jaime Bourbonnais (Mississauga, Ont.) had the other goals, and Emerance Maschmeyer (Bruderheim, Alta.) stopped all 12 shots she faced to record the shutout in her tournament debut as the Canadians finished with a 63-12 advantage in shots on goal.

For the third game in a row Canada failed to score in the first period, but it certainly wasn’t for lack of effort; it peppered Swiss netminder Andrea Brändli with 21 shots in the opening 20 minutes, but couldn’t find the back of the net.

Clark finally broke through four minutes into the second period, netting a shorthanded marker. Blayre Turnbull (Stellarton, N.S.) did the bulk of the work, driving the puck from the Canadian end to the Swiss goal and finding the post before Clark tapped in the easy rebound.

Right place, right time. 🚨#WomensWorlds | #OurGameIsBack | @emclark13 pic.twitter.com/2GNB5XH1Zz

— Hockey Canada (@HockeyCanada) August 24, 2021

That opened the floodgates. Bourbonnais doubled the lead at 9:38, charging in off the blue line and slamming home a loose puck from between the hashmarks, and Spooner tipped in a Renata Fast (Burlington, Ont.) shot just 17 seconds after that for a 3-0 advantage.

Daoust completed a dominant period at 16:34, redirecting in an Erin Ambrose (Keswick, Ont.) wrister with the shaft of her stick to send the Canadians to the intermission up by four.

Spooner got her second of the game and finished the scoring 61 seconds into the third, tipping a shot from Ella Shelton (Ingersoll, Ont.) through Brändli.

That spelled the end for the Swiss goaltender, who was replaced by Saskia Maurer after making 41 saves in as many minutes. Maurer turned aside all 17 shots she faced the rest of the way.

Maschmeyer wasn’t busy but was terrific when called upon, including a breakaway stop off Lara Stalder late in the second period and a left-pad robbery off Evelina Raselli in the third.

A 1⃣2⃣-save 🍩 for @Emerance_M, including this absolute robbery in the 3rd period. 🤯 #WomensWorlds | #OurGameIsBackpic.twitter.com/a9aPdUPY8k

— Hockey Canada (@HockeyCanada) August 25, 2021