Winter Olympics hockey 2014: American women advance to gold medal game
The United States routed Sweden en route to another gold medal game appearance.
Pool
The United States women’s hockey team will advance to the gold medal game after a dominant 6-1 semifinal win against Sweden on Monday.
The result was never really in question. The United States outshot the Swedes 70-9, a massive margin that underscored just how much the Americans controlled play throughout.
Alex Carpenter opened the scoring in the first period with a wide-open goal from the slot at 6:10. Just like that, the floodgates opened for the USA. Kacey Bellamy scored a minute later, and Amanda Kessel managed to roof a shot over Swedish goalie Valentina Wallner during a scramble in front of the net to give the USA a 3-0 lead heading into intermission. The Americans were outshooting the Swedes 22-0 after just ten minutes.
The United States padded their lead in the second period with goals from Monique Lamoreux and Megan Bozek. Sweden then changed goaltenders and altered the pace of the game. The United States kept racking up shots, but goalie Kim Martin Hasson stopped the first 16 shots she faced after entering the game.
Sweden finally got on the board in the third period thanks to a nice deflection from Anna Borgqvist in front of the net on Sweden’s eighth shot of the game. However, Brianna Decker scored the dagger goal for the USA to seal a 6-1 win.
Team USA will play for the gold medal against either Canada or Switzerland on Wednesday. Sweden will play for bronze against the loser of that semifinal game.
More on the Winter Olympics:
• Hockey: Men’s schedule | All 12 men’s rosters | USA roster analysis
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