Olympic Women's Hockey Notebook: Canada draws Sweden in quarterfinals

Goaltender Ann-Renee Desbiens of Team Canada. (Harry How/Getty Images)

It won't be tough for the Canadian women's hockey team to get back to work after a thrilling 4-2 win over the United States on Tuesday at the Beijing Olympics.

Getting outshot 53-27 generally is not a recipe for success -- a message coach Troy Ryan figures to hammer home before Canada returns to the ice for a quarterfinal against Sweden on Friday at 8 a.m. ET.

“First off, you congratulate the team on winning the (group in the) preliminary round. As a team you have to talk and share the successes that have made it worthwhile, but the biggest thing is that we know we didn’t play our best game," Ryan said. "It’s great that we were able to win, but we have to go back to the drawing board and look at some of the areas we can improve, in particular our puck management. (We will have to) just tighten up a bit and make some adjustments moving forward.”

Two-goal scorer Brianne Jenner agreed, calling it "a messy game."

So while goaltender Ann-Renee Desbiens deserves all the praise that comes her way, the Canadians would like to see a different kind of game if the expected occurs and they face the Americans again in the final on Feb. 16 at 11:10 p.m. ET.

"Start of the first period, they showed up. They doubled us in shots and Ann-Renee kept us in the game. We have to go back and pay attention a little bit more on our details," captain Marie-Philip Poulin told CBC.

As for Canada's next opponent, Sweden (2-2) won its final games of group play over China and Denmark to nail down the third and final quarterfinal spot in Group B.

Since winning silver after a loss to Canada in the 2006 Turin Olympic final and then taking bronze at the 2007 world championship, Sweden has not stood on the podium at either event.

The Swedes failed to qualify for last year's world championship in Calgary.

Quarterfinal matchups

Canada (first in Group A) vs. Sweden (third in Group B)
U.S. (second in Group A) vs. Czech Republic (second in Group B)
Finland (third in Group A) vs. Japan (first in Group B)
Russia (fourth in Group A) vs. Switzerland (fifth in Group A)

Same players, different result

Poulin was well aware who was in net when she was awarded a penalty shot in the second period on Tuesday

"I had a little flashback to 2018, that's for sure," Poulin told CBC.

Once again, it was Poulin against American goalie Maddie Rooney, but this time it was Captain Clutch getting the upper hand.

Rooney stopped Poulin in the shootout win over Canada for Olympic gold four years ago in Pyeongchang.

Russian tests positive

Another Russian women's hockey player has tested positive for COVID-19 after playing against Canada.

Russian coach Evgeny Bobariko tells state news agency RIA Novosti that Polina Bolgareva tested positive.

The forward played against Canada in a game Monday which was delayed because of virus concerns on both teams before the Russians and Canadians agreed to start the game in masks. The Canadians kept their masks on and won 6-1.

The Russians removed theirs at the start of the third period.

Bobariko says the team found out about the positive test after arriving back at the Olympic village following the game.

Russia has eight players unavailable in Beijing because of the virus and another player was left in Moscow after a positive test. Bobariko says ``I don't know how it's happening.''

Canadian forward Emily Clark didn't play against Russia because of inconclusive test results, but was back in the lineup against the U.S.

On Tuesday, Finland wore masks in their game against the Russians, who remained without masks.

Japan 3, Czech Republic 2 (SO)

Japan clinched first place in Group B -- and avoided a quarterfinal date with the U.S. -- with a shootout win over the Czech Republic. Hanae Kubo scored the lone goal of the shootout, while Haruka Toko scored both of Japan's goals in regulation.

Finland 5, Russia 0

Finland (1-3) notched its first victory of the tournament. Sanni Rantala had a goal and an assist for the Finns.

Sweden 3, Denmark 1

The Danes fell one win short of making the quarterfinals in their first Olympic appearance. Emma Nordin, Lisa Johansson and Ebba Burglund scored for the Swedes.

-- With files from The Associated Press

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