Canada advances to gold medal game as Normore contributes 4 points in 15-0 win over Japan

Team Canada dominated the Japanese Wednesday in a 15-0 shutout in semifinal action at the Winter Universiade in Italy. StFX forward Alex Normore scored two goals and had two assists in the Canadian victory as she and her teammates advance to play Russia for the gold medal on Friday.

Winter Universiade: Women's hockey
Canada beats Japan again, will defend title against Russia

Dec. 18, 2013

TRENTINO, Italy (CIS) – Gabrielle Davidson netted a hat-trick and Amanda Parkins tallied five points as the Canadian women's hockey team advanced to its third straight Winter Universiade final thanks to a dominating 15-0 semifinal victory over Japan, Wednesday evening.

It was the second win over Japan (3-3) in three days for the CIS all-stars (6-0), who beat the same opponent 9-1 on Monday to finish first in round-robin play. In Friday's gold-medal match at 2 p.m. EST (8 p.m. Trentino), the Canadians will face Russia (4-2), a team they blanked 5-0 in preliminary round action on Dec. 12.

The Russians edged the United States 3-2 in the other Final Four matchup, earlier on Wednesday. 

Canada is aiming for its third Universiade title in as many tries, after winning the inaugural FISU tournament in 2009 in Harbin, China, and repeating two years ago in Erzurum, Turkey. The Red & White is 20-0 all-time at the biennial competition and has now outscored its opponents by a 169-12 margin overall.

"Every game we seem to get a little stronger, which was our goal from the beginning. The more time we spend playing together, things seem to be coming a lot easier," said Team Canada head coach Howie Draper from the University of Alberta. "We talked about psychological momentum as a team, and I think we had that in this game. It was important for us to jump out to a good start against Japan so that we can carry on from where we left off in the previous contest. We were able to successfully do that, which put the Japanese players at a disadvantage."

Davidson, a McGill University standout from Pte. Claire, Que., scored once in each period to up her tournament-leading totals to an eye-popping 13 goals and 21 points in six contests.

Parkins, a product of Kitchener, Ont., who skates for the Guelph Gryphons, finished with a goal and four assists, while StFX forward Alex Normore (2-2-4) and McGill rearguard Brittney Fouracres (1-3-4) chipped in with four points each.

Rounding out the scoring were team captain Kim Deschênes from the Montreal Carabins, Katia Clément-Heydra of McGill and Tatiana Rafter of UBC with two markers apiece, as well as Montreal's Josianne Legault and Laurier's Laura Brooker with singles.

Canada, which outshot its rivals by a 50-8 margin, led 3-0 after the opening period and 8-0 after 40 minutes before exploding for seven more in the third.

Western goaltender Kelly Campbell earned her third shutout in as many starts at the Games. The London, Ont., native also defended the Canadian net against Russia and Great Britain.

At the other end of the ice, Hazuki Maeda allowed four goals on 17 shots and was saddled with the loss. She was replaced after 24 minutes by Yae Unosawa, who was beaten 11 times on 33 shots.

Team Canada website: http://english.cis-sic.ca/universiade/winter/2013/index
Trentino 2013 website: http://www.universiadetrentino.org/en  
                                                                                                                                   
TEAM CANADA SCHEDULE & RESULTS (all times local / 6 hours ahead of EST)

Dec. 10 (20:00): Canada 21, Spain 0
Dec. 12 (16:00): Canada 5, Russia 0
Dec. 13 (12:00): Canada 13, Great Britain 0
Dec. 15 (20:00): Canada 9, USA 1
Dec. 16 (16:00): Canada 9, Japan 1
Dec. 18 (20:00): Canada 15, Japan 0 (semifinal)
Dec. 20 (20:00): Canada vs. Russia (final)

SCORING SUMMARY (official boxscore: BOXSCORE)
 
Canada 15, Japan 0

FIRST PERIOD
 
SCORING:

1. CAN Josianne Legault (6) (Christi Capozzi), 6:39
2. CAN Gabrielle Davidson (11) (Josianne Legault, Kim Deschênes), 10:02
3. CAN Tatiana Rafter (6) (Caitlin MacDonald, Amanda Parkins), 10:57
 
PENALTIES:

(none)
 
SECOND PERIOD
 
SCORING:

4. CAN Gabrielle Davidson (12) (unassisted), 3:41
5. CAN Kim Deschênes (2) (Caitlin MacDonald, Brittney Fouracres), 10:42 PP
6. CAN Kim Deschênes (3) (Katia Clément-Heydra, Brittney Fouracres), 13:33
7. CAN Tatiana Rafter (7) (Amanda Parkins, Caitlin MacDonald), 14:50
8. CAN Brittney Fouracres (1) (Cara Wooster, Jessica Pinkerton), 19:29

PENALTIES:

Tomomi Kurata (JPN) tripping, 9:36.
 
THIRD PERIOD
 
SCORING:

9. CAN Katia Clément-Heydra (3) (Jenna Smith, Tatiana Rafter), 0:09
10. CAN Gabrielle Davidson (13) (Cara Wooster, Jessica Pinkerton), 4:09
11. CAN Katia Clément-Heydra (4) (Brittney Fouracres, Alex Normore), 5:51
12. CAN Amanda Parkins (9) (Alex Normore), 12:55
13. CAN Alex Normore (6) (Amanda Parkins), 13:22
14. CAN Alex Normore (7) (Amanda Parkins), 16:30
15. CAN Laura Brooker (6) (Jenna Smith), 18:11

PENALTIES:

Seika Yuyama (JPN) hooking, 1:39;
Sato Kikuchi (JPN) tripping, 10:13.

GOALS (by period)
CAN: 3-5-7: 15
JPN: 0-0-0: 0
 
SHOTS ON GOAL (by period)
CAN: 14-18-18: 50
JPN: 3-4-1: 8
 
POWER PLAY:
CAN: 1-3
JPN: 0-0
 
GOALTENDERS
CAN – Kelly Campbell (W, 3-0, 8 shots, 8 saves, 0 GA, 60:00)
JPN – Hazuki Maeda (L, 2-3, 17 shots, 13 saves, 4 GA, 23:41)
JPN – Y Unosawa (33 shots, 22 saves, 11 GA, 36 :19)

REFEREE: Maija Elina Kontturi (FIN)
 
LINESMEN: Jenna Marika Puhakka (FIN), Helga Tschorner (ITA)

ATTENDANCE: -

START: 20:00
END: 21:56
LENGTH: 1:56

PRELIMINARY ROUND STANDINGS (FINAL)

GP       W         OTW    OTL     L          GF       GA       PTS
1. Canada        5          5          0          0          0          57        2          15        
2. Russia          5          3          0          0          2          35        12        9
3. USA             5          3          0          0          2          15        14        9
4. Japan           5          3          0          0          2          20        15        9
5. Great Britain            5          0          1          0          4          5          39        2
6. Spain           5          0          0          1          4          2          52        1

Scoring system:
3 points for a win in regulation
2 points for a win in overtime or shootout
1 point for a loss in overtime or shootout

Legend: W (win), OTW (OT win), OTL (OT loss), L (loss)