The U.S. women's ice hockey team dismantled Finland in their semifinals matchup at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics on Monday, scoring goals early and often and claiming a spot in the gold medal game.
The U.S. team scored two goals in each of the first two periods; a pair of scores came in less than one minute in the second period.
Gigi Marvin set the tone just minutes into the game, scoring on assists from Meghan Duggan and Amanda Pelkey. Near the end of the first period, Dani Cameranesi scored unassisted — the first of her two goals today.
From there, the rout was on, with Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson scoring while the U.S. enjoyed a two-player advantage during a power play, and Hilary Knight adding another goal just 34 seconds later, during a one-player power play. It was the first goal of the tournament for Knight, a forward who's one of the best American players; she had previously assisted on goals.
The U.S. controlled play throughout, taking 38 shots to 14 for Finland.
The Americans will play in the gold medal game Wednesday night, in U.S. time. The final will start at 1:10 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 22, in Korea — that's 11:10 p.m. ET and 8:10 PT.
With the win, the U.S. set up another possible showdown with Canada, the winners of every Olympic gold medal since the U.S. won the first women's tournament back in 1998. The rivals have repeatedly faced off to decide Olympic and world championships over the past 20 years.
The Canadians play the Olympic Athletes from Russia team on Monday, at 9:10 p.m. Korean time 7:10 a.m. ET).
Canada defeated the U.S. 2-1 last Thursday, in group play. The Russian team bounced back from losses to both Canada and the U.S. to dismiss Switzerland, 6-2, in the quarterfinals. The loser of the Canada-OAR game will face Finland in the bronze medal match.
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