Participating Countries
Download the official app
Americans dominate
Americans dominate
Schelling prevented blowout in 5-0 Swiss loss
Lyndsey Fry is stopped cold by Swiss goalie Florence Schelling. (Photo by Andre Ringuette/HHOF-IIHF Images)
She made more bona fide, highlight-reel saves in this one game today, a 5-0 loss to the United States, than any other goalie will make this entire tournament.
Pad saves, glove saves, reaction saves, saves on one-timers and breakaways and cross-ice passes—she stopped them all. Well, almost, but when you get peppered with 61 shots, a few are going to squeak by.
Unfortunately, there was little competitive about this game. The Swiss simply couldn't get the puck out of their own end for the last two periods, and despite Schelling's heroics there was no way the Americans could lose.
The loss leaves the Swiss winless in three games and headed to the quarter-finals tomorrow. The win puts the U.S. in first place in Group A, but Canada still has a game to play tonight and might well reclaim top spot.
But the story was Schelling. The Swiss managed only five shots in the first period, none in the second, and one in the third. Jessie Vetter stopped exactly six shots to claim the shutout.
The first period was a most improbable and strange one for more than 19 minutes. The U.S. took the first three penalties of the game, and although the Swiss didn’t generate any great scoring chances, they had to be please with a game that was scoreless well past the halfway mark.
The Swiss took the next penalty and did an equally good job killing it off, but then the Americans turned up the heat. Sabrina Zollinger was beaten at the U.S. blue line creating a two-on-the-goalie situation for puck carrier Brianna Decker and linemate Amanda Kessel. The pair over-passed the puck and didn’t even get a shot on goal.
Continue readingAnne Schleper then wired a long shot off the crossbar and Schelling robbed Decker with a sensational pad save. The goalie then took a goal away from Meghan Duggan from point-blank range, and it looked as though the Swiss would leave the ice tied with the Americans.
But one late penalty to Romy Eggimann changed things. Alex Carpenter was left alone in front, and although Schelling made another brilliant save, Carpenter poked the rebound in with 39.1 seconds left on the clock.
Then, just 10.1 seconds later, Decker finally connected. Coming in on goal from the off wing, she fired a low shot to the far side, giving the Americans a two-goal cushion that was anything but easy.
"We had a bit of a slow start, but we responded well to the penalties and didn't let them frustrate us," said Monique Lamoureux. "Those two goals at the end of the period were huge for us. It was a big momentum swing and carried over to the second and third periods."
In the second period Schelling was nothing short of brilliant. Shots were 21-0 and most of those 21 were great chances. The goalie stopped Monique Lamoureux with a great pad save, Lyndsay Fry point blank, Amanda Kessel, Kendall Coyne, and Meghan Duggan. Finally, Decker got her second of the game by lifting a shot from in close with Schelling screened after having made another great save.
That it was only 3-0 after 40 minutes was attributable only to Schelling, but the Americans got a little breathing room early in the third when Coyne and captain Julie Chu scored early to make it 5-0.
"We wanted to push the pace today and get pucks at the net. We knew Schelling is a great goalie and we'd need to get a lot of shots. It was a good game for us."
Back to Overview
