Canada's hockey women continue juggernaut pace

Rout Sweden 13-1 to move to 3-0 record in preliminary matches

Last Updated: Thursday, February 18, 2010 | 12:44 AM ET

By Justin Piercy, CBC Sports

Canadian forwards Meghan Agosta, right, and Cherie Piper celebrate Agosta's goal past Sweden netminder Kim Martin and Jenni Asserholt in Vancouver, on Wednesday. (Chris O'Meara/Associated Press)

It was supposed to be the first test the Canadian women's hockey team faced in their quest for Olympic gold.

The Canadians passed with flying colours, and then some.

Meghan Agosta's hat trick and two assists paced Canada to a 13-1 thrashing of Sweden on Wednesday at UBC Thunderbird Arena in Vancouver, putting an exclamation point on the final round-robin game for both teams.

Canada (3-0) now moves on to the semifinal round, with its opponent set to be the loser of Thursday's Group B match between Finland and the U.S.

Sweden, 2006 Olympic silver medallists, will play the Group B winner in the other semifinal.

Canadian goaltender Kim St. Pierre turned away all four shots she faced through the first two periods, while backup Charline Labonte allowed the lone goal against — scored by Katarina Timglas — in the third period.

The blowout victory followed convincing wins over Slovakia (18-0) and Switzerland (10-1) at the Vancouver Games, and Canadian players received emails calling them "classless" and "disrespectful" following the Slovakia match.

"We're not going to worry about what people are saying behind the scenes," Agosta said. "We're going to worry about us and what we can do to continue on with our success. We've worked real hard and we know what we want and that's to be in that final game. We have one more hurdle to hop and that's that semifinal game."

Agosta opened the scoring at 6:58 of the first period thanks to a nifty pass from Cherie Piper.

Piper led a 2-on-1 chance into the Swedish zone before threading a pass across the slot and onto the tape of Agosta's stick for her sixth goal of the tournament.

Agosta helped push the lead to 2-0 midway through the first when she spotted a wide-open Marie-Philip Poulin in the slot.

Swinging to the half-boards on a 3-on-2 rush, Agosta drew the Swedish defender away from the front of the net, opening up space for Poulin, who slid in untouched and roofed a backhand top-corner on Martin for the eventual game-winning marker.

And with that beautiful goal, the rout was on. Outshooting their Scandinavian opponents 23-2, Piper, Sarah Vaillancourt and Tessa Bonhomme scored to send the Canadians to the dressing room at the first intermission with a 5-0 lead.

Players set records

The thrashing continued in the second period — 1:06 into the middle frame, Agosta scored her second of the game, putting a loose puck past the Swedish goalie and all five Swedish skaters in the crease.

Jayna Hefford, Gillian Apps and Hayley Wickenheiser scored second-period goals 59 seconds apart for a 9-0 lead.

Wickenheiser's tally was notable because it gave her the all-time lead for scoring in Olympic women's hockey, passing fellow Canadian Danielle Goyette.

Agosta's hat trick marker made it 10-0, and was also another record-setter. The 23-year-old forward tied Goyette's mark of most goals in an Olympic tournament, with her eighth.

Heading into the final period with a 12-0 lead and a robust 43-4 lead in shots, Apps added her second goal while Timglas replied on the power play.

"Canada is the powerhouse of women's hockey," Swedish head coach Peter Elander said. "They have a coaching staff that is unbelievably good. They have worked with their players since the first of August to achieve another level of women's hockey and it happens every fourth year.

"Our team is much better than it was in Torino, but unfortunately Canada hasn't stopped developing. My team is really, I can say, pissed off over their performance."