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BEIJING — It has been dastardly, diabolical and darn impressive what Canada had done in the Olympic women's hockey tournament leading into Tuesday's game against Team USA.
The Canadians entered the game having outscored opponents 29-3 while winning their first three games of Group A. They then pulled off another impressive feat on Tuesday at the Wueksong Sports Center.
During these Olympics, I have covered my first curling match, have witnessed Alpine skiing for the first time and now have covered a hockey game in which a team won 4-2 despite being outshot 53-27.
Regardless of what Canada did to make scoring tough on Team USA on Tuesday, there had to be plenty of Grade A scoring chances out of the volume of 53.
"No," forward Hilary Knight said, "because we didn't win, right?"
Knight knows what USA's offense is capable of and expects to produce more quality chances as the tournament moves into the quarterfinal round.
"I see how good we are at shooting," she said, "so I can't wait for it to sort of fall in when we get into game atmosphere."
Team USA outshot Canada 16-5 in the first period as it carried much of the play. The line of Grace Zumwinkle, Kelly Pannek and Dani Cameranesi dominated all night. Zumwinkle drove to the net six minutes in but had her shot stopped.
Abbey Murphy had a great look with 10 minutes left, but her shot missed the mark.
Then Caroline Harvey was called for cross-checking, and everything changed. Just 36 seconds later, Brianne Jenner took a feed from Sarah Fillier and flipped a shot over the shoulder of USA goaltender Maddie Rooney. Team USA had just won a faceoff in its end but turned the puck over trying to clear the zone. Not good while on the power play. Canada led 1-0 at the first intermission.
"We didn't execute some plays that normally we execute defensively," USA coach Joel Johnson said. "And almost every time that happened, it ended up in the back of our net, and so there's no excuses, just finding solutions."
Five goals were scored in the second period. Team USA led 2-1 after a goal by Cameranesi, which was inevitable, and the latest by Alex Carpenter. Then the USA defense broke down.
Jenner scored a power-play goal to tie the game. Then Natalie Spooner, who was a handful all night, got loose near the corner and fed Jamie Lee Rattray, who was unchecked in front of Rooney and scored for a 3-2 Canada lead. These are things the USA defense needs to clean up.
Known pain-in-the-breezers Marie-Philip Poulin made it 4-2 when she stuffed a penalty shot by Mooney after a questionable slashing call on a breakaway.
BOXSCORE: Canada 4, United States 2
Team USA faced Canada at noon Beijing time on Tuesday, allowing the late-night hockey fans back home to tune in around 10 p.m. The team joked that it had graduated from playing at 9 p.m. local time, which it did during its first three games of Group A play.
"You're getting back to the village at, you know, 1:30-2 a.m.," Knight said. "So you feel like you went clubbing all night."
So they played on Tuesday, Monday back home. Viewers probably were troubled by some of the things they saw.
But it's all correctible. Clear the zone when you win a faceoff on the penalty kill. Don't expect the international game to be called the way you are used to.
Bury your chances.
Also keep in mind that, four years ago, Canada defeated USA in team play. The USA stepped up in the gold medal game to win in a shootout.
Tuesday's game was a matchup of teams with plenty of speed, skill and savvy. But it was just a group play game. The teams are expected to run it back in a few days when something bigger is on the line.
