BRAMPTON — Canada kicked off its quest for a three-peat at the 2023 International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Women’s World Championship with a dominant 4-0 victory over Switzerland in its opening game at the CAA Centre.
The win keeps Canada a perfect 11-0 record against the Swiss all time, with a goal differential of 81-2, nine of those wins by shutout.
Forward Sarah Nurse felt like they executed their game plan in all three zones of the ice.
“I don’t think we actually had to play in our own zone very much,” she said. “I thought our forecheck was so good, our neutral zone transition was good, so we were able to limit them and their Grade A scoring chances.”
The team ran into penalty trouble with three straight first-period penalties but were killed without any damage. Back at even-strength, looking for the ice-breaker, Canada was back attacking in the Swiss zone when an opposing defender turned the puck over, landing on Natalie Spooner’s stick, who makes no mistake putting it past goalie Andrea Braendli and into the net to make it 1-0.
Eyes were on the 32-year-old Scarborough native as she made her return to the competition after sitting out of the 2022 Worlds tournament in Denmark, during her pregnancy.
Four weeks after the birth of her son, Rory, the Canadian veteran was back on the ice skating. Now she has made the return for her ninth World Championship just four months postpartum and scoring goal number 67 for team Canada but her first as a mom.
“Obviously I came into this tournament just hoping to make an impact and help my team and to get that first one was pretty special,” Spooner said.
Canada continued their strong play, and less than three minutes later, Canada doubled its lead on a power play as a shot from Nurse found its way in.
Nurse said Canada’s ability to take advantage of the power plays and effectively kill off penalties has been one of the focuses in practices.
“There are little details that we’d like to tighten up for sure but in the last few days of practice we’ve worked a lot on special teams, our forecheck,” she said. “We won the special teams battle and I think we executed what we needed to today.”
The attendance at the CAA Centre, whose capacity is listed at 5,000, was announced at 3,510. Most of those in the stands were wearing red and their presence was felt — and heard — throughout the entire game.
Nurse said it was awesome to have fans on home ice again.
“It was so loud. It felt like every time you walked somewhere or looked somewhere somebody is yelling your name or waving at you, so it felt great to be back home.”
Canada didn’t let off the gas pedal in a chippy and physical second period. On the power play, Canada was once again able to find the twine, this time off the stick of veteran Rebecca Johnston.
Johnston, who sat out last summer’s worlds because of a back injury, was back on the top line with Marie-Philip Poulin and Breanne Jenner.
“I think it’s always fun to be able to score,” she said. “But just helping to contribute as much as I can for this team to help us win is really the ultimate goal.”
Team Canada head coach Troy Ryan praised both returning veterans.
“They are two people that we’ve trying to manage a little bit of their load because they’re now coming back,” he said. “To have them contribute right off the bat, it’s great for us as a team but it’s also great for them individually.”
Canada finally got a fourth goal in the third thanks to a turnover at the Swiss blue line with Sarah Fillier finishing the play with a quick shot in front.
Ryan and Nurse pointed to some missed details in the first period, but was happy with how his team responded.
The next game for Canada is April 7 against Czechia. In other games yesterday, the U.S. beat Japan 7-1, and Finland defeated France 14-1.