URL:http://www.globeandmail.com/docs/news/19970401/Sport/SHOWO2.html GLOBEnet [Welcome to GLOBEnet..]___ Welcome to the News Section SWISS WOMEN PLAY CANADA TOUGH National team records 6-0 win in first game of world hockey championship Tuesday, April 1, 1997 By Beverley Smith Sport Reporter Canada battled to an unexpectedly hard-fought victory last night in its first game of the women's world hockey championship. Switzerland was supposed to be easy pickings for the three-time world champions from Canada. Switzerland finished last of eight teams at the 1994 world championship, won by Canada. Last night Canada did defeat the Swiss 6-0. And it did outshoot them by an overwhelming margin of 61-5. But for most of the game, the Swiss defence knotted up the Canadians and pressed them into skating a chippy, frenetic game with penalties galore. And all the while, Swiss goalie Patricia Sautter kept the Canadians at bay, staring down all shots. The crowd of 3,889 loudly applauded the choice of Sautter as most valuable Swiss player in the game. "They played an awesome game, if you forget the last two minutes," said Swiss coach France Montour, a former member of Canada's national team. Montour admitted she found it strange to work against her former team. "We respect them [the Canadians]," she said. "I told them [the Swiss players] they were good. I told them to believe in themselves." The last two minutes that Montour and the Swiss would like to forget included a flurry of Canadian goals. By the final moments of the third period, the Canadians wore down the Swiss and scored two goals within 15 seconds. All six Canadian goals were scored by different players, but 22-year-old Hayley Wickenheiser was chosen top Canadian player and the game's top player. She scored the second Canadian goal of the night. Earlier, the Canadians failed to make good on some opportunities, particularly in the first period. Only Vicki Sunohara was able to break through with a goal at 4:30. Canada took 22 other shots on goal that failed to find the mark. And referees awarded six penalties in the first period alone, half of them to Canadians, and half of them for bodychecking. In the second period, when Swiss centre Kathrin Lehmann was finally able to break through with a shot on goal (that missed), the Canadians scored twice. But the Canadians also were called for four penalties, the Swiss none in the second period, two of them for bodychecking. Canadian coach Shannon Miller admitted that the Canadians picked up "some bad habits" in their scrambly game against the Swiss, frustrated at constant faceoffs, icing calls and Swiss players covering the puck. At times, as many as four Swiss players clogged the path to their net. Miller said her players began to stop skating when the going got rough and began to reach for the puck. Sometimes frustrated Canadians were making bad passes, just hoping a shot would get through the mass of bodies. Still, the Canadians endured only one faceoff in their own end during three periods. The frenetic action and the scramble of the Canadians did not make them appear to dominate the Swiss in the same way the Norwegians were dominated by the U.S. team, the greatest threat to stop Canada from winning its fourth consecutive world championship. The Americans showed high speed, accurate passing and deft stickhandling in defeating the Norwegians 7-0 and outshooting them 52-9. Even though the United States overwhelmed the Norwegians, U.S. coach Ben Smith said that for the first five to eight minutes his team was "a little bit tight" and anxious. "Coming in here and eliminating scoring chances was our top priority," he said. The U.S. team succeeded in that. In other games last night, China defeated Russia 6- 2 and Finland overwhelmed Sweden 5-0. _________________________________ Copyright (c) 1997, The Globe and Mail Company ® All rights reserved.