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April 4, 1997

CANADA KEEPS ON ROLLIN'
                                    
UNBEATEN AT WOMEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

By STEVE BUFFERY
Toronto Sun KITCHENER --  China's long march to respectability in
women's hockey took a wrong turn last night.
  The overmatched Chinese squad, ranked fourth in the world, were iced
by Canada 7-1 in the final round-robin game here at the world
championships.
  CANADA 7, CHINA 1
  CHINESE, RANKED NO. 4 IN THE WORLD, NO MATCH FOR CANADA
  Canada easily won all three preliminary games and advances to
tomorrow's semi-finals. China, 2-1 in the round robin, also qualified
for the medal round.
  The Chinese team basically had one shot against the Canadians last
night at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium, and that was for their
goaltender Guo Hong - named the outstanding goalie at the 1996 Pacific
Rim Tournament - to pull off her best Dominik Hasek imitation.
  Guo, however, looked shaky from the start and was pulled by coach
Zhu Chengyii after giving up two goals on the first eight shots. Her
replacement, Huo Lina, wasn't the answer, as Canada fired three more
to jump ahead 5-0 after the first. Zhu, obviously China's version of
Mike Keenan, put Guo back in goal to start the second and the
goaltender responded with a solid final 40 minutes. Unfortunately, her
teammates failed to work up any form of steady attack. The Canadians
fired 42 shots on net compared with 12 for China.
  Cassie Campbell of Brampton and Lori Dupuis of Cornwall each had a
pair of goals for Canada.
  Also scoring for Canada were Geraldine Heaney of Weston, Hayley
Wickenheiser of Calgary, and Scarboro's Vicki Sunohara. Guo Wei scored
on a fine individual effort for China early in the third.
  Despite the final outcome, last night's contest was much more of a
test for Canada than its opening two games against Switzerland and
Russia. In fact, the Chinese, made up of players virtually all from
the northern industrial town of Harbin, managed three shots on net in
the first period, the first time in three games Canada even gave up a
shot in the opening 20 minutes of play.
  The Chinese government has poured considerable money into the
women's hockey in recent years on the premise that the team has a
legitimate shot at a medal at next winter's Nagano Olympics, a style
patterned after the old East German system. The East Germans financed
only sports that were medal contenders at Olympics.
  Still, despite the one-sided score yesterday, the Chinese do have a
decent shot at a medal in Nagano, given the sad lack of depth in
women's hockey internationally.

TORONTO SUN 

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