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 Post subject: NMR: I'd love to be inside Cammi Granato's mind
PostPosted: Fri Feb 17, 2006 5:32 pm 
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TORINO, Italy (AP) - Sweden shocked the United States with a 3-2 shootout win in a women's Olympic hockey semifinal Friday.

That means for the first time since international competition in women's hockey began in 1990, the U.S. and Canada won't meet in the championship match - and it's largely because of Swedish goalie Kim Martin.

Martin made 37 saves and stopped all four American attempts in a shootout, while Maria Rooth scored twice in regulation time and added the clinching shootout goal in Sweden's 3-2 victory in the semifinals.

When she was only 15 years old, Martin led the Swedes to the bronze medal in Salt Lake City. On Friday, she was the difference in a watershed win that decisively proves world-class women's hockey can be played outside North America.

"This is the greatest thing to happen to women's hockey in Sweden and everywhere around," Martin said. "We knew we were getting better and better all the time. We needed to beat the U.S. or Canada to show it."

Rooth scored two goals in 3½ minutes of the second period after terrible giveaways by the Americans, who were shockingly sloppy with the puck in their first loss to Sweden in 26 meetings. The Americans were scoreless in the final 48:56 of regulation and overtime as the Swedes dominated their shaky, tentative opponents - despite a heavy U.S. advantage in shots.

"We knew this day was coming at some point," said U.S. forward Kristin King, who scored a goal. "The game is getting closer. Finland and Sweden have battled us all year. It's just unfortunate that we had to be the ones that went out."

In the shootout, the U.S. actually went 0-for-5 on four chances against Martin: Defenscman Angela Ruggiero got a second chance when Martin moved too early, but she missed an open net.

Pernilla Winberg scored on the next shot. After U.S. captain Krissy Wendell missed, Rooth finished it with a low stick-side shot against Chanda Gunn.

The Swedes mobbed Martin after Rooth's goal, throwing off their gloves and piling onto each other. They joined hands and skated around the ice to the cheers of a small rooting section, while hundreds of American fans stared blankly or cried.

King and Kelly Stephens scored their first Olympic goals for the U.S., which got subpar games from its best offensive players against a packed-in defence fronting Martin, who sat out Sweden's last game to rest for this one.

The sport's domination by the U.S. and Canada was the talk of the tournament's first week, with some questioning whether it belonged in the Olympics. Canada, which faced Finland in the late semifinal, and the U.S. had never lost to anybody except each other in a match at the World Cup or the Olympics. The Americans won the sport's inaugural gold medal in Nagano, and Canada won in Salt Lake City.

But the Americans barely held off Finland on Tuesday before losing to Sweden, which lost 8-1 to Canada in the preliminary round and appeared weaker than the Finns.

There's parity in women's hockey after all - and the Americans are heartbroken they had to prove it this way.

"I think we've got a young team, (but) it's not an excuse," said Jenny Potter, a three-time Olympian. "Things didn't go our way. Their goalie stood on her head, and we didn't bury it. It's hard. It brings tears to my eyes. I think we outplayed them."

Coach Ben Smith made some debatable choices in the Americans' preparation for Turin, cutting longtime captain Cammi Granato and then opting for a short pre-Olympic training camp and tour. Those choices and his roster's overall inexperience will now be questioned as the Americans settle for their worst Olympic finish in the bronze-medal game Monday.

The Americans scored first on King's rebound goal midway through the opening period, but Ruggiero and Potter also made embarrassing power-play giveaways that forced Gunn to make the toughest of her 13 saves.

Stephens scored on a power play early in the second - but Rooth capitalized on another U.S. giveaway by flipping a blind backhand through Gunn's pads moments later. And when Erika Holst stripped Lyndsay Wall behind the U.S. net during a power play 3½ minutes later, Rooth scored a short-handed goal at point-blank range.

The Americans were shaken, and they couldn't score during two minutes of a 5-on-3 advantage later in the period. They wasted two more power plays and managed just four shots in the third.


Finland is playing Canada pretty even right now

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PostPosted: Fri Feb 17, 2006 5:34 pm 
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spoke too soon

Canada 2-0 1st period about to end (BIG GOALS)

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