In their third game of the Women’s Ice Hockey tournament at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing the United States played Switzerland. The Unites State were 2-0-0 going into this game. They beat ROC (Russia) 5-0 in their previous game. Switzerland were 0-2-0 coming into this game. They lost to ROC (Russia) 5-2 in their last game. They lost 12-1 in their opening game.
Game Review
The United States came into this game after a big shutout win. They had a lot of momentum and were gunning for the top spot in Group A. In the first period Switzerland took a penalty for delay of game. The United States would score on the power play to start the scoring. Hilary Knight would score the goal. Hanna Brandt and Megan Keller would get the assists. The United States would make it 2-0 with a goal from Jesse Compher. It was assisted by Hayley Scamurra and Megan Bozek. Hilary Knight would get her second of the night to make it 3-0 USA. Kelly Pannek would score to make it 4-0 USA. Switzerland would take an illegal hit penalty. The United States would score a couple seconds after the power play time. Amanda Kessel scored the goal. Jincy Dunne and Cayla Barnes got the assists. USA would take a 5-0 lead into the second period. Switzerland would make a goaltending change to start the second period. The United States would score two goals in the second period. Kelly Pannek would make it 6-0 USA. Assists came from Amanda Kessel and Alex Carpenter. Jesse Compher made it 7-0 USA. Megan Bozek and Jincy Dunne would get the assists. Only one goal was scored in the third. Dani Cameranesi scored the last goal for the United States. Kelly Pannek and Cayla Barnes got assists on the goal. The United States would win the game 8-0.
Something I noticed early on is that Switzerlands defenders were letting players get behind them and to the net. Switzerland was not protecting their net. That might be what has been hurting them so far. If they let that continue they wont win a game in the group stage and will be one and done in the elimination stage. The United States did a good job at keeping the puck and puck possession. That is something that we haven’t seen from Canada. Canada has been scoring at will but has not had the some level of control of the puck that the United States have shown. With puck control the United Sates were able to put a lot of pressure on Switzerland. That may be something to watch out for moving forward. The United States hasn’t had a lot of line rush so far in this tournament. They haven’t been rushing the puck up the ice. They have been going up the ice as a team. This win marks back to back shutouts for the United States in the olympics. It is going to make the USA vs Canada game very interesting. Canada being a scoring team and the United States being more of a defensive team. These two shutouts are definitely a message to Canada. That message being it doesn’t matter how meany goals you score against other teams you wont put up those number against us.
Stats
Next game
The United States now faces their biggest opponent and rival in Canada. The United States will go into this game 3-0-0. Canada is currently 2-0-0. Canada has a game coming up with ROC (Russia). Canada has scored 23 goals in 2 games. The United States has back to back shutouts. This is a potential gold medal match. These two power houses are favored to win it all. No matter what the final score is it promises to be the best game of the tournament so far.
Zac Electrifly 