🇨🇦 Canada 6-0 Finland 🇫🇮
Four Nations Cup Preliminary Round
Kerava Areena, Kerava 🇫🇮
Tuesday, 06 November 2012

Jayna Hefford had two goals to reach a scoring milestone and Shannon Szabados faced 20 shots, as Canada opened the 2012 Four Nations Cup with a 6-0 victory over Finland on Tuesday.

Jennifer Wakefield, Rebecca Johnston, Hayley Wickenheiser, and Meghan Agosta-Marciano also scored for Canada, which dumped the host side 8-1 in an exhibition tune-up two days earlier. Hefford’s second goal was the 150th of her national team career.

“It’s a phenomenal feat,” Canada’s National Women’s Team head coach Dan Church said from Kerava. “She’s just a true professional. Her talents around the net and just her nose for the puck, and really how hard she works off the puck, I think are the keys to her success as a goal scorer.”

Canada’s roster for the 2012 Four Nations Cup includes almost all the players from the team that won Gold at the 2012 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship in Burlington, Vermont. Canada rolled four effective lines at Kerava Arena and fired 53 shots at netminder Isabella Portnoj.

“We just wanted to get a good strong start to this tournament,” Hefford said. “We know we have to get better from here on out.”

The Finns have never beaten Canada in women’s hockey.

Canada will next face the defending champion Americans on Wednesday, before meeting Sweden on Friday. The medal games are Saturday. The Americans blanked Sweden 4-0 on Tuesday.

The U.S. is the defending Four Nations Cup champion, beating the Canadians 4-3 in a shootout last year in Nyköping, Sweden. Hefford and her teammates are excited to play the Americans again.

“It’s always the game we look forward to playing,” Hefford said. “It’s an intense rivalry but it’s fun. It brings out the best in us and I think it does in them. We’re going to be ready to go tomorrow.”

Canada has won the event 12 times in the 16-year history of the tournament. The event also serves as an evaluation opportunity for team brass ahead of the 2013 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship coming to Ottawa, Ontario, this April.

“I think we’re hungry to prove that we can be a dominant team again,” Church said. “Every opportunity we look forward to playing the U.S. To win the world championship last year in Vermont was a great step forward, but we also had some pretty big losses over the course of the year.

“There’s definitely room for improvement for our team. So I think this tournament is a great opportunity for us to come in and show them that we are the team that they saw in the finals and we’re going to put forward a very physical, fast, and a good team game.”

Canada last won Four Nations Cup in November 2010 in St. John’s, Newfoundland, defeating the Americans 3-2 in overtime.

BOXSCORE
1st Period
01:37 – 🇫🇮 PEN – Villilä, holding
03:05 – 🇨🇦 PP GOAL – Hefford (Bonhomme)
08:40 – 🇫🇮 PEN – Kilponen, holding
12:39 – 🇨🇦 PEN – Apps, interference
19:28 – 🇨🇦 GOAL – Wakefield (Agosta, Larocque)
19:56 – 🇫🇮 PEN – Saarimaki, tripping

2nd Period
26:46 – 🇨🇦 GOAL – Johnston (Birchard, Bonhomme)
27:42 – 🇨🇦 PEN – Slusar, hooking
33:13 – 🇨🇦 PEN – Johnston, body checking
35:24 – 🇨🇦 GOAL – Wickenheiser
35:57 – 🇫🇮 PEN – Hiirikoski, body checking
39:57 – 🇨🇦 PEN – Apps, hooking

3rd Period
43:36 – 🇨🇦 PEN – Spooner, cross checking
46:01 – 🇨🇦 GOAL – Agosta (Irwin, Wakefield)
46:44 – 🇨🇦 GOAL – Hefford (Poulin, Ouellette)
54:38 – 🇨🇦 PEN – Apps, high sticking

GOALTENDERS
W: 🇨🇦 Szabados (20-20)
L: 🇫🇮 Portnoj (47-53)

SHOTS ON GOAL
🇨🇦 18+18+17 = 53
🇫🇮 5+6+9 = 20

ROSTERS
🇨🇦 Goaltenders: Charline Labonté, Geneviéve Lacasse, Shannon Szabados. Defence: Courtney Birchard, Tessa Bonhomme, Jocelyne Larocque, Meaghan Mikkelson, Bobbi Jo Slusar, Catherine Ward, Tara Watchorn. Forwards: Meghan Agosta, Gillian Apps, Vicki Bendus, Bailey Bram, Jayna Hefford, Haley Irwin, Brianne Jenner, Rebecca Johnston, Caroline Ouellette, Marie-Philip Poulin, Natalie Spooner, Jennifer Wakefield, Hayley Wickenheiser.
🇫🇮 Goaltenders: Isabella Portnoj, Meeri Räisänen. Defence: Essi Hallvar, Jenni Hiirikoski, Anna Kilponen, Johanna Koivisto, Rosa Lindstedt, Jutta Stoltenberg, Tea Villilä. Forwards: Venla Hovi, Niina Mäkinen, Riikka Noronen, Anni Rantanen, Tiina Saarimaki, Susanna Tapani, Anne Tuomanen, Minnamari Tuominen, Suvi Vacker, Saana Valkama, Linda Välimäki.

Article Credit: Hockey Canada