Canada to play in women’s Olympic hockey final following Switzerland rout

Canada will compete for Olympic gold in the final of women’s hockey after crushing Switzerland 10-3 in the semifinals on Monday.

The team outshot the Swiss 61-13, and now has scored 54 goals in the tournament so far – an Olympic record.

Team captain Marie-Philip Poulin scored twice and Claire Thompson had a goal and two assists in the matchup.

“I know when you look at the Olympic scores, you kind of think it has been an easy road for us, but that could not have been any further from the truth,” forward Sarah Nurse said.

“We want to generate a ton of offence but we know we have to clean things up defensively. I know going into the championship (game) we will have to tighten some things up defensively.”

With two goals and 10 assists, Thompson set a tournament record for points by a defender.

“I’m so surprised,” Thompson said. “I never thought I’d be anywhere close to that, but the team’s just been doing so well all tournament. Our offence has been generating a lot and I’m just happy to be here.”

Brianne Jenner, Jamie Lee Rattray, Blayre Turnbull, Renata Fast, Erin Ambrose, Emily Clark and Emma Maltais also scored for the Canadians, who beat Switzerland 12-1 on the tournament-opening day Feb. 2.

Canada remains undefeated in Beijing as it seeks to reclaim the gold medal, which it lost to the U.S. at the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang.

The final game will be played on Wednesday against the winner of the United States and Finland match, which takes place later on Monday morning.

— with files from The Canadian Press

by Global News