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April 1, 1997

CANADIAN WOMEN BURY SWISS

By STEVE BUFFERY
Sun Sports   KITCHENER -- The writing was on the wall last night at
the women's world hockey championships when one of Swiss players wiped
out on the red carpet while warming up for her game against Canada.
  From then on, it was all downhill for the overmatched Swiss.
  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, brutally ugly. After 20 minutes, the three-time
defending world champions had outshot the visitors 23-0, though Canada
held a frustrating 1-0 lead.
  The Swiss couldn't manage a shot on 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. The
final shots? 61-5
  "I like to do play-by-play in my head," Dube said, when asked about
her light workload. She also spent time making pretend saves on an
imaginary opposition.
  The Swiss fans, optimistically waving their huge flags and ringing
their cow bells at the opening faceoff, were cheering icings by the
end of the first.
  The tournament, which is a qualifier for next winter's Nagano
Olympics, is only one day old and it's clear that it is going to be a
two-team competition. Earlier, the U.S. outshot Norway 52-10 en route
to a 7-0 victory.
  If Canada demonstrated a weakness, 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.
  "I guess 6-0 is respectable score," said Canadian coach Shannon
Miller. "It's difficult to play in a game like that when they ice the
puck that frequently. It's tough to keep the intensity up."
  By the end of the second, it was clear the Swiss game plan was to
clog the front of their own net with four skaters, jump on all
rebounds and ice the puck at every opportunity.
  Scoring for the hosts were Vicki Sunohara of Scarborough, young
superstar Hayley Wickenheiser of Calgary, Danielle Goyette of St.
Nazaire, Que., Nancy Drolet of Drummondville, Que., Thornhill's Angela
James and Rebecca Fahey of Sackville, N.B.
  Team Canada is back in action tonight against Russia.
  U.S. 7, Norway 0
  Shelley Looney scored two goals to lead the United States. Stephanie
O'Sullivan, Laurie Baker, Cammi Granato, Kelly O'Leary and Gretchen
Ulion added singles.
  Finland 5, Sweden 0
  Riia Raima scored two goals and assisted on another in leading
Finland to a 5-0 victory over Sweden. Finland plays the U.S. in
Brantford tonight.
  China 6, Russia 2
  The Chinese jumped to a 3-0 lead early in the first period and
cruised to a 6-2 win over Russia in Hamilton.
  -- WITH FILES FROM CP

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