🇨🇦 Canada 3-0 Switzerland 🇨🇭
Women’s World Championship Preliminary Round
Adirondack Bank Center, Utica 🇺🇸
Friday, 05 April 2024

Natalie Spooner drove hard to the net in the first period, resulting in two goals that spurred Canada to a tight 3-0 win over Switzerland this afternoon in Utica at the 2024 IIHF Women’s World Championships.

It was Canada’s second straight win by shutout and the second loss for the Swiss, who have now gone 120 minutes without scoring a goal so far. The win also keeps Canada perfect all time against Switzerland, 13-0, with 10 shutouts and a goals differential of 89-3. To the good, the result was the closest ever for the Swiss, whose previous best was a 5-1 and 4-0 loss.

“We were better than yesterday,” said Canada’s captain, Marie-Philip Poulin. “We focused on our play in the defensive zone, which is something we take pride in. Every day we’re getting better. We could have scored more, but we’re happy.”

“I’m proud of the way the team played today,” said Swiss forward and PWHL Boston star Alina Müller. “We battled hard. We gave up two goals at the beginning that we didn’t have to, but then we closed the door and Andrea was unbelievable. Without her the score would have been different for sure. And I think we had some chances, too. We were really close.”

Emerance Maschmeyer blocked 17 shots for the shutout, her sixth career blank sheet in only 13 Women’s Worlds games played. Andrea Brändli was sensational at the other end, stopping 42 of 44 shots.

Canada has a day off before resuming action on Sunday against Czechia, while the Swiss have two days off before facing Finland on Monday.

Spooner, the leading scorer in the PWHL, kept her hot hand right from the start of the game, driving to the net out of the corner trying to jam the puck in. Brändli held her ground and made the save, but Emma Maltais banged home the rebound at 1:09. It was the second Spooner-Maltais combination at this early point of the tournament, not surprising given that they are linemates with PWHL Toronto as well.

“I’m just trying to play the same way here that I was playing in Toronto,” Spooner said. “I’m lucky to play with Nurse and sometimes Emma in Toronto, so it makes the transition a little easier. But I’m just doing the same thing, taking pucks to the net, using my body, being a big net presence, hopefully creating a little chaos in front, and hopefully some pucks go in. I’m just embracing that power forward mentality, using my speed and size to get to the net.”

Canada dominated on the puck and were rewarded six minutes later thanks to another aggressive rush from Spooner. Again she opted to go hard to the blue ice, and again Brändli stood her ground. The puck came free to Swiss captain Lara Stalder, who gave the puck away to Sarah Nurse. Nurse wired a high shot over Brändli at 7:46 to make it 2-0.

Although the Canadians were overpowering in the second period, outshooting Switzerland 23-4, they couldn’t add to their tally. The Swiss did a masterful job keeping Canada to the outside, and Canada showed surprising little creativity with the puck. As well, Brändli was impressive when she needed to be.

The Swiss had the best opportunity to score early on when Canada took two quick penalties, giving the Swiss a five-on-three for 91 seconds, but Canada put on a master class in penalty killing to keep it a 2-0 game.

Coach Colin Muller pulled Brändli with two minutes left in the game, and Kaleigh Quennec was stoned in close by Maschmeyer. Moments later, Sarah Fillier closed out the scoring with an empty netter and only 19.1 seconds left.

NOTE: Only three Swiss players have ever scored against Canada in WW play – Alina Marti, Lara Christen, and Alina Müller. All were in the lineup today, but none could beat Maschmeyer.

BOXSCORE
1st Period
01:10 – 🇨🇦 GOAL – Maltais (Spooner, Fast)
07:46 – 🇨🇦 GOAL – Nurse
16:00 – 🇨🇦 PEN – Fast, roughing

2nd Period
20:48 – 🇨🇦 PEN – Nurse, tripping
21:18 – 🇨🇦 PEN – Fast, tripping

3rd Period
45:02 – 🇨🇭 PEN – Müller, cross checking
50:40 – 🇨🇦 PEN – Maltais, tripping
59:41 – 🇨🇦 EN GOAL – Fillier (Poulin, Jenner)

GOALTENDERS
W: 🇨🇦 Maschmeyer (17-17)
L: 🇨🇭 Brändli (42-44)

SHOTS ON GOAL
🇨🇦 8+23+14 = 45
🇨🇭 3+4+10 = 17

ROSTERS
🇨🇦 Goaltenders: Kristen Campbell, Emerance Maschmeyer. Defence: Erin Ambrose, Ashton Bell, Jaime Bourbonnais, Renata Fast, Nicole Gosling, Jocelyne Larocque (A), Ella Shelton. Forwards: Emily Clark, Sarah Fillier, Julia Gosling, Brianne Jenner, Emma Maltais, Sarah Nurse, Kristin O’Neill, Marie-Philip Poulin (C), Jamie Lee Rattray, Danielle Serdachny, Natalie Spooner, Laura Stacey, Blayre Turnbull (A).
🇨🇭 Goaltenders: Andrea Brändli, Saskia Maurer. Defence: Alessia Baechler, Annic Büchi, Lara Christen, Alena Rossel, Nicole Vallario, Stefanie Wetli. Forwards: Rahel Enzler, Naemi Herzig, Emma Ingold, Sinja Leemann, Alina Marti, Alina Müller (A), Kaleigh Quennec (A), Noemi Rhyner, Lara Stalder (C), Vanessa Schaefer, Ivana Wey, Laura Zimmermann.

Article Credit: 2024 Women’s World Championship
Photo Credit: 2024 Women’s World Championship – IIHF – HHOF – IOC