URL:http://www.ottawacitizen.com/sports/970331/924302.html The Ottawa Citizen Online Sports Page Monday 31 March 1997 CANADA LOOKS STRONG FOR GOLD The Ottawa Citizen Don Cherry, centre, has been supportive of women's national hockey team. From left, Cassie Campbell, Cherry, Nicole Abel and Geraldine Heaney recently in Toronto. Here are capsule looks at each of the eight teams in the 1997 world women's hockey championship, which starts today. Pool A Canada How qualified: Finished first (5-0 won-lost) at 1996 Pacific Rim tournament in Richmond, B.C. Seeded: First. Outlook: The Canucks' strength is that they have few, if any, weaknesses. A team full of talent, character and desire, Canada is the three-time defending world champion. Anything less than a gold medal here would be treated as a crushing defeat. The one knock against them is that practically every other team in the field trains together more than the Canadians, who remained scattered across the country until a week-long pre-tournament camp in Barrie. Said head coach Shannon Miller: "All of these (Canada's) players play on their club team's first line. Because of that, I have to give them a role. I keep telling our players to give themselves to me, to trust me. And, if they do that, then we will win." Manon Rhéaume was in goal for Canada's two previous world championships, but faced tough competition at the training camp in Barrie from Danielle Dubé and Lesley Reddon and was cut. There is plenty of speed and skill up front with Danielle Goyette, Nancy Drolet, Karen Nystrom, Hayley Wickenheiser, Luce Letendre and Vicki Sunohara. Defenceman Geraldine Heaney and centre Angela James were all-stars at past world championships. China How qualified: Finished third (2-3 won-lost) at the 1996 Pacific Rim championships. Seeded: Fourth. Outlook: The Chinese have made great strides in the past five years, having catapulted from fifth place at the 1992 world championships in Finland to become bona fide medal contenders in Kitchener at this week's world championship tournament. Runaway Asian 1996 champions, Team China pummelled Japan 9-3 on home ice and before 9,000 spectators. A team without many discernible stars, the Chinese attack regularly retreats to a five-player box in their own zone. Their recent strategy against the Canadians was to keep games close and wait for a break to score. That strategy almost paid off against Canada in round-robin play at the Pacific Rim Championship a year ago in Richmond, B.C. The Canadians squeaked out a 1-0 victory, thanks in large part to the spectacular goaltending efforts of Hong Guo, who was named the tournament's outstanding goalie. China surrendered just 11 goals in the tournament's five games despite being heavily outshot. The Chinese are expected to bring plenty of intensity to any competition in which they take part. Their style is usually described as being "rough and ready." With the 1998 Winter Olympics less than a year away in Nagano, Japan, the Chinese have made a significant commitment to female hockey. Their national team members train every day in the City of Harbin as playing for the team is considered to be a full-time job. Russia How qualified: Finished second (4-1 won-lost) at 1996 European championships. Seeded: Fifth. Outlook: The greenest club in Kitchener in terms of its international experience, the Russian team was created only three years ago in St. Petersburg. Following two tours of North America, the Russians embarked on their first European B championship in 1995, when they promptly won the gold medal. Team Russia continued its meteoric rise having captured silver at last year's European A championship in Yaroslavl, Russia. Kitchener marks the Russians' first world championship appearance. The Russian player who figures to make the biggest impact at the World Championships today is Ekaterina Pashkevich, a five-foot-10, 190-pound power forward with a hard, heavy shot and lots of skill. Pashkevich left Russia in 1994 and lives in the Boston area, playing for a senior A women's team in Assabet Valley, as well as skating three or four times a week with a men's club team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Like all teams in the world tournament, Russia is seeking to earn a berth in the 1998 Olympics and believe that beating archrival China in the tournament opener is the key to realizing that achievement. Switzerland How qualified: Finished fifth (1-4 won-lost) at the European championships. Seeded: Eighth. Outlook: Perhaps the youngest squad here, the Swiss team's average age is 21. However, Team Switzerland has been on the world scene since the first and unofficial world championships held 10 years ago in North York, Ont. Since then, two players -- Merjam Baechler (Newtonbrook) and Doris Wyss (Edmonton) -- have moved to Canada and are playing on club teams here. And the Swiss have enlisted the coaching assistance of former Team Canada stalwart France Montour. Montour has been a player-coach in Japan as well as a player in Switzerland. A fifth-place finish in Kitchener and an Olympic berth is not out of their reach. Past world championship tournaments have been mostly learning experiences for the Swiss. In 1990, the team scored 11 goals in three round-robins games but surrendered 29 in posting a 1-2 record. In 1994, they finished eighth and last in the tournament with just two goals scored and 34 against in the three-game round robin. At the European championships, Switzerland was inconsistent, losing 4-3 to the Russians, but getting drubbed 8-0 by Finland. Pool B United States How qualified: Finished second (3-2 won-lost) at 1996 Pacific Rim championships in Richmond, B.C. Seeded: Second. Outlook: Make no mistake. The Americans have come to Kitchener with only one objective in mind: securing the gold medal. "I feel very confident that the team we assemble from these 30 athletes will give the United States its very best shot at a gold medal at the women's world championships and the top seed for the Olympic tournament next winter," said Team USA head coach Ben Smith recently. In all, 19 returnees from the 1996 national team and 11 others were to vie for a spot on the American's 20-player roster for the 1997 world championships. Held at Lake Placid, New York, from March 8-29, the selection camp has been called, their most competitive to date. Goalie Erin Whitten has spent time with the Flint Generals of the Colonial Hockey League. USA Hockey's 1996 player of the year, Cammi Granato, piled up six goals and three assists through five games at the '96 Pacific Rim championships and was named the event's outstanding forward. In the three previous world championships, Team USA has faced Canada in the gold-medal final. Only once has the outcome been lopsided -- in 1992 the Canadians blanked the U.S. 8-0. This time the Americans believe it's their turn. Sweden How qualified: Finished first (4-0-1) at 1996 European championships in Yaroslavl, Russia. Seeded: Third. Outlook: The enigmatic Swedes' only blemish on their record at the Europeans was an unlikely 2-2 tie against the last-place Germans, a team relegated to the European B pool. Sweden will look for its first world championship medal in Kitchener. Should they play to their potential, the Swedes will prove to be a medal threat in 1997. While women's hockey continues to struggle for recognition in Sweden, head coach Bengt Ohlsson believes his club is among the four best in Kitchener. The Swedes finished third in a four-nation tournament with Russia, Finland and Canada earlier this season and won a three-nation tournament competing against Norway and Russia. In a three-game series against Finland in January, the Swedes won one and lost two. The Swedes are considered to be sound technically but aren't a physically dominant squad. The team's main strength is probably in goal where Lotta Gothesson and Annika Ahlen both are strong performers. Gunilla Anderson is a force on defence for the Swedes and the team also boasts a cluster of players who play regularly for men's junior club teams in Sweden. That group includes Erika Holst, Maria Rooth, Malin Gustafsson, Therese Sjolander and Satu Kohlemainen. Finland How qualified: Finished third (3-2 won-lost) at 1996 European championships. Seeded: Sixth. Outlook: Bronze medallists in the previous three IIHF-sanctioned world championships, the small, speedy and smart Finns are models of consistency. The Finns recorded the best goal differential at the European championships, having scored 26 goals in five games while allowing just five goals against. A spectacular skater, Finland's Sari Krooks was a integral component of York University's provincial hockey championship team this season. Krooks also played for the North York Aeros for five years and will be playing in her fourth consecutive world championship next week. She was a member of Finland's three previous bronze-medal-winning teams as well as Finland's three European championship squads. The Finns have solid -- often outstanding -- goaltending in Liisa-Marie Sneck and speedy, creative forwards in Krooks, Riikka Nieminen and Tiia Reima. Like Krooks, these forwards will all be making their fourth appearance in a world championship. Nieminen was named the top forward at the 1994 world championships in Lake Placid and was named an all-star at the 1992 and 1994 championships. Norway How qualified: Finished fourth (2-3 won-lost) at 1996 European championships. Seeded: Seventh. Outlook: At the 1992 Women's World Hockey Championship in Tampere, Finland, women's hockey administrators were confident that their sport would be added to the Winter Olympics lineup -- the question was, for which Olympics? Many were hoping that women's hockey would be added to the program for the 1994 Winter Games in Lillehammer, Norway. However, the Norwegian organizing committee argued that there wasn't enough time to work out the logistics, and their argument prevailed, postponing women's hockey until the Nagano Games next year. In the meantime, the women's game seems to be developing slowly, certainly if the country's world championship performances are any guide. In 1990, the Norwegians were humbled by the United States 17-0 and by the Finns 10-1 as they went 0-3 in the round-robin portion of the tournament, giving up 35 goals while scoring just four. After showing some improvement in Tampere, where they managed to win two of five games, Norway reverted to form in Lake Placid in 1994. The Norwegians scored just two goals while yielding 23 in the three-game round robin. As a result, Norway recorded three straight sixth-place finishes at the world championships. Team Norway will be looking to shed its perennial also-ran status at the 1997 world championships. But the Norwegians will likely be in a dogfight with Russia, Switzerland, and Sweden for the fifth and final Olympic berth on the line in Kitchener. World championships The 1997 women's world hockey championships features eight teams in two pools. Pool A has Canada, Russia, China and Switzerland. Pool B has the U.S., Sweden, Finland and Norway. Each country plays every other nation in its pool in a round robin. The top two teams in each pool advance to the medal round. The other four teams will play to determine which one goes to the 1998 Olympics. Schedule Round robin Today: 4 p.m. -- Norway vs U.S. (in Kitchener); 4 p.m. -- Finland vs Sweden (in Brampton); 7 p.m. -- China vs Russia (in Hamilton); 7:30 p.m. -- Canada vs Switzerland (in Kitchener) Tomorrow: 4 p.m. -- Sweden vs Norway (in Kitchener); 7 p.m. -- Finland vs U.S. (in Brantford); 7 p.m. -- China vs Switzerland (in Mississauga); 7:30 p.m. -- Canada vs Russia (in Kitchener), TSN, RDS Thursday: 4 p.m. -- Norway vs Finland (in Kitchener); 7 p.m. -- U.S. vs Sweden (in London); 7 p.m. -- Switzerland vs Russia (in North York); 7:30 p.m. -- Canada vs China (in Kitchener) Qualifying round Friday: Pool A fourth-place team vs. Pool B third-place team; Pool B fourth-place team vs. Pool B third-place team, 4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. (in Kitchener) April 6: Losers of April 4 games play for seventh and eighth place, noon; Winners of Friday games play for berth in '98 Olympics, 2 p.m. (in Kitchener) Medal round Saturday: Pool A first-place team vs. Pool B second-place team; Pool B first-place team vs. Pool A second-place team, 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. (in Kitchener) April 6: Bronze-medal game with losers of April 5 games, 4 p.m.; gold-medal game with winners of Saturday games, 8 p.m. (in Kitchener), TSN, RDS Copyright 1997 The Ottawa Citizen