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April 1, 1997

CANUCKS CARPET SWISS

By STEVE BUFFERY
Toronto Sun KITCHENER --  The writing was on the wall last night at
the women's world hockey championships when one of the Swiss players
wiped out on the red carpet while warming up for her game against
Canada.
  From there on, it was all downhill for the poor Swiss.
  CANADA 6, SWITZERLAND 0
  How ugly was the Team Canada opener? Not that bad for the host
nation, which cruised to an easy 6-0 victory in front of 3,889 fans at
the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium.
  But for the Swiss, it was brutally ugly. After 20 minutes, the
three-time defending world champions had outshot the visitors 23-0,
but were held to a frustrating 1-0 lead.
  The Swiss couldn't even manage a shot on Canadian goaltender
Danielle Dube through three first-period power-plays.
  Not until six minutes and 25 seconds into the second period did the
girls from the Alps manage a shot on Dube.
  The final shots last night? 61-5.
  The Swiss fans, optimistically waving their huge flags and ringing
their annoying cowbells at the opening faceoff, were cheering icings
by the end of the first.
  The world championships, which is a qualifying meet for next
winter's Nagano Olympics, is only one day old, and it's abundantly
clear that this is going to be a two-team tournament. Earlier
yesterday, the American team outshot Norway 52-10 en-route to a 7-0
victory.
  If Team Canada demonstrated a weakness last night, it was a failure
to finish.
  Time and again the Canucks buzzed around Swiss goaltender Patricia
Sautter, who will be dreaming about firing squads for the rest of the
week, but repeatedly fired the puck right at her.
  Vicki Sunohara of Scarboro put Canada up 1-0 in the first on a shot
from the slot and the Canadians jumped ahead to a 3-0 lead at the end
of two on goals by young superstar Hayley Wickenheiser of Calgary and
Danielle Goyette of St. Nazaire, Que.
  Switzerland actually had a scoring chance in the second, but Dube
shut the door on a Jeanette Marty breakaway. Despite all their shots,
the Canadians only managed three more goals in the third, late
power-play markers by Nancy Drolet of Drummondville, Que., and Angela
James of Toronto, and the sixth by Rebecca Fahey of Sackville, N.B.
All three came in the final two minutes.
  The round-robin portion of the tournament continues for Team Canada
this evening against Russia at the Aud in Kitchener.

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