It is only after much effort that the ice hockey women of the United States play again for a medal at the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing. The Canadians played much more ambitiously.
Strong support: Czech goalkeeper Klara Pelarova.
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In a 4-1 win against the Czech Republic, the Americans, the Olympic champions from 2018, had significant problems in Friday’s quarter-finals despite their overwhelming superiority. The first American goalkeeper Hilary Knight said, “The game was extremely serious.” “In the end it was about surviving the tournament and we did it.”
The big favorite failed repeatedly on Czech goalkeeper Klara Pelarova and for a long time only scored through Knight (26th minute) and Lee Steklin (47th). Only Savannah Harmon (57th) and Schofield Coyne (60th) made the majority clear in the final minutes of the game. Before the fourth goal, the Czechs took Plesarova in favor of another attacker.
The outsider also took the lead through Michaela Pezlova (25th). The United States also made it difficult time and time again with unnecessary penalties. The Americans are the first team to reach Monday’s Olympic semi-finals with their narrow victory. Since women’s ice hockey became the Olympics in 1998, there has never been an Olympic champion other than Canada or the USA.
The Canadians played a much more ambitious game in the evening, beating Sweden by 11:00. Sarah Fillier scored three goals. Sweden’s goalkeeper Emma Soderbergh was out in the second round after scoring nine goals. His representative Ida Bowman scored only two more goals in the final third.
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