Team Canada cruised through Finland in the final game of the preliminary to enter the elimination portion of the tournament. Marie-Philip Poulin remains out, but Canada responded to that absence.
Canada shut out Finland 5-0 to close out their final game of the preliminary round and secure second overall in the tournament heading into the elimination round.
The line of Jennifer Gardiner, Julia Gosling, and Kristin O'Neill opened the game as Canada's best with Gardiner scoring the only goal of the first period to give Canada a 1-0 lead.
Early in the second period, Finland had their only stretch of sustained zone time and quality scoring chances against Canada, but the Canadians responded scoring twice in a two minute stretch. Daryl Watts took a centering pass from Sarah Fillier and went high short side over Sanni Ahola to give Canada a 2-0 lead.
Two minutes later Kristin O'Neill extended Canda's lead with a low shot through traffic that evaded Ahola to make it 3-0.
In the third period, one of Canada's top offensive players who has struggled this season, Emily Clark, had an awakening scoring twice. Her first was a wrap around goal, which she followed with her second of the tournament and game later in the frame.
With Canada up 5-0, Ann-Renee Desbiens turned aside the remaining Finnish attempts to pick up a 17-save shutout.
Captain Marie-Philip Poulin returned to the ice this week to skate, but was ruled out for the game against Finland. There's no telling if she'll return in the quarterfinals.
Canada will now advance to play Germany on Sunday in the quarterfinals, while Finland will face Switzerland.