Canada held off Sweden 2-1 to open the first 6-nation tournament of the Women's Euro Hockey Tour in Finland.
Canada defeated Sweden 2-1 in the opening game of the Women's Euro Hockey Tour in what turned out to be a very even contest.
“We liked our strong start; we possessed the puck pretty well, broke out of our end well and gained the offensive zone as a group heading up ice. As the game went on into the second [period], we strayed away from our game plan a little bit but got back to it in the third," said head coach Alison Domenico. "We are playing another good team in Czechia tomorrow. We need to learn quickly from the game today, recognizing when we can break the puck out quickly and attack the offensive zone with speed, which makes a difference in our game and allows us to play more offence.”
To open the scoring in the first period, Ohio State forward Jocelyn Amos tallied on the power play with Kendall Cooper and Emma Venusio grabbing assists on the play.
Nearing the midway point of the second period, Amos grabbed a puck down the right win before delaying and opening to the middle of the ice where she found Nicole Gosling who joined the play and caught Swedish netminder Ida Boman sliding across the crease while Gosling went against the flow and tucked home a backhander. Emmalee Pais picked up the secondary assist on the play.
“Communication was a big factor for us as we just got together as a group," said Gosling. "A big focus for us is communicating well, making it easy for each other to play with and be predictable. It felt good to score and help out the team today. We need to keep working on the things that are working for us. It is a short tournament, so we need to keep things simple, focus on the positives and learn more every single game. That is how we will get better every day.”
Only 30 seconds later however, Sweden's Thea Johansson, who plays in the NCAA with Mercyhurst cut down the left wing and beat Eve Gascon five hole to cut Canada's lead in half. Ebba Hedqvist assisted.
The goal seemed to energize Sweden who began holding more possession following the tally.
Despite their efforts however, Canada held off the Swedish attack, including more than two minutes at the end of the game with an extra attacker on the ice.
Canada plays Czechia tomorrow, while Sweden is off until Friday when they'll face Czechia to close out pool play.