URL:http://www.thestar.com/thestar/editorial/sports/970404SPC3_SP-NUWOMEN4.html Canadians show China great wall [photo] STEVE RUSSELL / TORONTO STAR THE GATHERING STORM: Canada's powerhouse women's hockey team huddles at the net before last night's 7-1 win over China. By Alan Adams - Toronto Star Sports Reporter KITCHENER - The women's world hockey championship is on track for a Canada-United States final. The determined Canadians continued to waltz through the A Pool last night, beating China 7-1 for their third straight victory before 5,457 fans at the Auditorium here. The Chinese and Canadians began the night tied for first in their pool and the Chinese were supposed to give the Canadians a game of it. Maybe next time. While they were by far the best opponent the Canucks have faced, the Chinese clearly were no match. There were times when the play would remain on the Chinese side of centre for minutes on end, and only a handful of times did China put any kind of offensive pressure on the three-time world champions. ``We expected a little more of a game,'' said Cassie Campbell of Brampton, who scored twice. The United States, meanwhile, began the final day of round-robin play tied atop the B Pool with Finland, and the Americans had a challenge tossed in their faces when the Finns beat Norway 10-0. That result gave Finland an eight-goal bulge in the event of a tiebreaker but the Yanks beat Sweden 10-0 to finish first in their pool. _________________________________________________________________ Canada 7, China 1 _________________________________________________________________ That means Canada will play Finland in one semifinal tomorrow, while the U.S. goes up against China. The winners meet for the world crown Sunday night, and anything but an all-North American final would be a shocker. Bring on the Finns, Canadian coach Shannon Miller said. ``We beat them 5-1 the last time we played them (in an exhibition game) and I don't think they showed us their best effort,'' she said. Added Campbell: ``The Finns should give us a heck of a game.'' The four remaining teams - Russia, Sweden, Norway and Switzerland - begin play today to determine who will take part in Sunday's game to decide fifth place and the final berth for the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. By advancing to the semifinals, Canada, the U.S., Finland and China assured themselves of Olympic participation. In last night's other game, Switzerland and Russia tied 3-3. The Chinese can take some satisfaction from becoming the first team in three games to get a shot on the Canadian goal in the first period, accomplishing the feat at 14:40. They finished with 12 shots, equalling the total Canada faced in its wins over Switzerland and Norway. Lori Dupuis of Williamstown, Ont., also scored twice for Canada while Haley Wickenheiser of Calgary, Vicki Sunohara of Scarborough, and Geraldine Heaney of Weston had a goal apiece. Guo Wei scored China's lone goal, a shorthanded marker at 4:48 of the third period, when she deked Heaney and beat Danielle Dubé to the stick side. The Canadians had two goals called back - the first coming a mere 12 seconds after the opening faceoff - before Campbell pinched in from the point and wristed the puck through goalie Guo Hong's legs at 8:34. The rout was on. Asked whether she felt she had a read on her team, which has yet to be seriously challenged, Miller said simply, ``I am very happy with their performance.'' In the U.S. win over Sweden, Karen Bye scored a hat trick as the Americans outshot the Swedes 73-4. Contents copyright (c) 1996, 1997, The Toronto Star. User interface, selection and arrangement copyright (c) 1996, 1997 Torstar Electronic Publishing Ltd. From explorer.dgp.toronto.edu!dgp.toronto.edu!vv1 Fri Apr 4 12:58:31 1997 X-within-URL:http://www2.torstar.com/sportswire/amhockey/HKY-Wmn-Worlds-Chn-Ca.html Subject:HKY-Wmn-Worlds-Chn-Ca.html Status: RO SportsWire _________________________________________________________________ Late breaking SportsWire Story last updated on Fri Apr 4 12:40:10 EST 1997 _________________________________________________________________ Canada 7 China 1 Canada continues to roll through the world women's hockey championships, but the lack of any meaningful opposition is raising concerns over the event's future. A 7-1 rout Thursday over China - a team expected to at least cause the Canadians to work a bit harder than usual - was Canada's third straight lopsided triumph of this tournament and moved the team into Saturday's semifinals against Finland. However, the one-sided victory further underscored the disparity between Canada and the rest of the world in a sport trying to gain mass appeal. Canada has now outscored its opposition 21-2 in three round-robin games. In four world championships dating back to 1990, Canada has never lost a game. The walkovers are making it difficult for the coaching staff to prepare the players for a close game, if it comes. ``It's tough to evaluate the defensive part of the game, coverage in our zone, breakout patterns, things like that,'' head coach Shannon Miller said after the win. In fact, Canada's toughest opponent so far has been itself - in practice. ``I think the toughest forwards I have to face are the ones on my own team,'' said Cassie Campbell of Brampton, Ont., who scored two goals Thursday and was named Canada's player of the game. Lori Dupuis of Williamstown, Ont., also had two goals, while Calgary's Hayley Wickenheiser, Toronto's Geraldine Heaney and Vicky Sunohara of Scarborough, Ont., each scored once. Guo Wei scored China's lone goal, a short-handed marker in the third period. Organizers and women's hockey officials can only hope a stirring final Sunday against the United States - the matchup is a dead lock - will be more exciting that Canada's previous games. But even that anticipated match - the United States meets China in Saturday's other semifinal - might not be enough. ``It will hurt in the long term if we only have two or three good teams in the world,'' said Bob Nicholson, the senior vice-president of Canadian Hockey. Canadian officials face a conundrum. They need to help the rest of the world improve or the game is destined to become boring to a mass audience. But if they do that and the world catches up, then Canada might start struggling in the face of great expectations. ``We have to continue to help the other nations,'' Nicholson said before Thursday's triumph, played before a near sellout crowd of 5,457 at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium. ``We want to stay on top but it is our responsibility to help grow the numbers.'' One of the problems is trying to give the other countries hope. Right now, only the United States is seen as a serious challenger to Canada. Everyone else is a distant, distant third. ``What they're doing is hot-housing 20 or 30 players and trying to compete right away,'' Nicholson said of the non-North American teams. ``That's good in the short term but to make it long term, they have to develop some kind of club system to develop players.'' The sheer numbers suggest a club system is a long way away. There are only 400 registered female hockey players in all of Russia, 1,900 in Finland, 400 in Norway and 1,200 in Sweden. Another method for improving competition might be to have some sort of `B' pool that allows new hockey-playing countries to get their feet wet in international competition without being discouraged by seeing Canada run roughshod over its budding players. ``You have to have equal competition,'' agreed Nicholson. ``If your average score is 25-1, people are not going to be interested in your sport.'' The score might not have been 25-1 Thursday but the margin of play wasn't far from it - Canada allowed only three shots on goal in the first period and jumped to a 5-0 lead. However, Miller said the Chinese did provide a challenge. ``I appreciate the fact they came out in the first period and pressured us and forechecked us and didn't just ice the puck. ``We . . . had to play a smarter game.'' KITCHENER, Ont. (CP) SportsWire amhockey SportsWire