The Canadians won their third consecutive gold medal at the Olympics with an efficient 2-0 victory against the rival United States on Thursday.

Teenage whiz Marie-Philip Poulin scored two first-period goals and that was enough because netminder Shannon Szabados shut the door on the Americans with a wonderful 28-save performance.

The 23-year-old Szabados is the same goalie who, earlier in her career, made headlines playing with the boys in the Alberta Junior Hockey League and later in one game with the Tri-City Americans of the WHL. She also played minor hockey growing up in Edmonton with Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Dion Phaneuf.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Wayne and Janet Gretzky, Canadian snowcross gold medallist Maelle Ricker, actor Michael J. Fox, defenceman Scott Niedermayer and most of the men’s team, as well as head coach Mike Babcock and his assistant coach Lindy Ruff, were among the packed and exuberant crowd to take in the women’s victory at Canada Hockey Place.

The Canadian victory avenged losses to the U.S. in the past two world championships. Because of the disappointment at those two tournaments, the Canadian women changed their preparation for the Vancouver Olympics.

They held a 3½-week boot camp in Dawson Creek, B.C. There, each day began with a long-distance run every morning at 7 a.m. and between weight training, yoga sessions, kickboxing workouts and on-ice instruction, their day didn’t finish until 9:30 p.m.

The Canadian women also engaged in an ambitious 31-game schedule, beginning in late September, against Alberta boys midget teams. This was 10 more games than they played against Alberta boys teams in preparation for the 2006 Olympics.

The commitment and dedication obviously paid off. They won five of six exhibition games against the U.S. and extended their Olympic win streak to 15 games. The Canadians outscored the opposition 48-2 in their five games at Vancouver.

The Finns scored on a play that started with good puck movement from their own blue-line. Rantamaki drove down the left side and fired the puck towards the crease.

The goal was originally credited to her teammate and Finnish captain Saara Tuominen, but a replay showed it went off a Swedish skate and past netminder Sara Grahn.

Finland had not won a medal in Olympic women’s hockey since the inaugural 1998 tournament, when they also took bronze. They lost the bronze medal game in the last two Olympics.

Rantamaki, 32, is one of just two players remaining from the 1998 team.

“I knew if I got it in front, we would score,” said Rantamaki “It’s really unbelievable, a great feeling right now. I still can’t believe it. It’s been a long time. I waited 12 years. It was so long that I waited.”

Sweden was going for a third consecutive Olympic medal in women’s hockey. Sweden won bronze in 2002 and four years later took silver after a huge upset win in the semifinals over the United States.

Canada and the United States will battle for gold Thursday evening.

The Swedes never led in the game. Danijela Rundqvist helped send the game to extra time scoring on Finnish goalie Noora Raty a little more than five minutes into the third period.

Heidi Pelttari and Michelle Karvinen scored for Finland in regulation time, as did Swedish veteran Maria Rooth.

Finland’s President Tarja Halonen attended the game wearing a Finnish jersey and waving the blue-and-white flag while watching from a luxury box. She even led a cheer on the public-address system late in the third period.

“Not many presidents love sports like she does,” Raty said.

Finland snapped out of their goal drought to prevail, having been shut out by the powerful U.S. and Canada squads in their two previous games.

When Canada’s hockey women face off against the U.S. in Thursday’s Olympic final, there will be no mysteries unfolding, no surprises on the ice. Since the women’s game formed its own world championship in 1990 and began competing in the Olympics in 1998, the same two nations have met in every final but for the 2006 Turin Games, when the Swedes stunned the Americans in the semifinal and took home silver.

Though they are different – the Americans young, creative and fast, the Canadians smart, powerful and with a cohesiveness that the Swedish captain described as “like a machine” – there is little to separate these two squads, so players search for an edge where they can find it.

Enter the revenge angle.

The American women keep harkening back to the 2002 Games at Salt Lake City when Canada beat them 3-2 on their own ice, in front of their own fans, to take gold. They repeatedly drop sly hints about how the pressure got to them as it will now with the Canadians. But, more than that, they would like nothing more than to give Canada a serving of their own medicine – to “flip the stage” as American blueliner Angela Ruggiero put it.

“That’s what they want to talk about but it’s not the story we want to write,” said Canadian captain Hayley Wickenheiser.

“We’re ready for anything that comes our way. We’ve prepared very hard. We can play a high-tempo game. We just need to execute. We’ve been preparing four years for this game.”

The Canadians, as if they need to look beyond the raucous, red-and-white-clad fans in the stands, have their own inner burning as they look for redemption.

The U.S., with a new generation of very good players, has won the last two world championships and three of the last four. Canada had won the eight previous championships so the old guard – such as Wickenheiser, Jennifer Botterill, Becky Kellar and Jayna Hefford, there since women’s hockey made its Olympic debut at Nagano – are anxious to show they can keep Canada at the forefront.

“On the biggest stage, they won the biggest games and we want to take that away from them,” said Wickenheiser.

“We’ve come a long way from a year ago (when the Canadians lost 4-1 to the Americans in the final of the world championship). Our young players now understand they can perform under pressure and do the little things that need to be done no matter where they are in the game. It will come down to execution and who makes the fewest mistakes.”

But what about the home-ice disadvantage?

“It’s great to silence a crowd sometimes,” says American forward Meghan Duggan, “and use their enthusiasm and energy in our favour. We’ve done it in the past.”

Wickenheiser says any downside to the rabid support her team is receiving here is a crock and tries to quantify the value of that backing.

“Could be worth a gold medal,” she says.

Pleasing head coach Melody Davidson is another.

“I don’t think Meghan had one of her better games today but overall I think she’s done a great job here,” Davidson said Monday after Agosta scored in Canada’s 5-0 semifinal win over Finland.

Agosta’s goal, which put Canada up 3-0, was her Olympic-record ninth of the tournament. She will have a chance to increase that total in when Canada tries for its third straight gold medal in Thursday’s final against the rival United States.
 
The Americans advanced with a 9-1 win over Sweden.

Agosta, a five-foot-seven, 145-pound whirlwind from Ruthven, Ont., who turned 23 the day the Games opened, also downplayed her achievement.

“I think I had an OK game but, you know what? It’s a team game and it doesn’t matter who puts the puck in the net,” said Agosta, who also set up Canada’s opening goal.

The record-breaking score came with the teams playing four-on-four late in the second period.

Canadian defenceman Tessa Bonhomme stickhandled through traffic, moved into the Finnish zone, then dished to Jayna Hefford.

Hefford’s centring pass deflected into the crease off a defender and Agosta buried the loose puck behind Finland goalie Noora Raty.

The goal surpassed Danielle Goyette’s standard set when women’s hockey was introduced at the 1998 Games in Nagano, Japan.

Goyette, of St-Nazaire, Que., who retired from the national team in 2007, was at Canada Hockey Place to witness the record.

Now Davidson sees Agosta as a player who can replace Goyette’s legacy.

“She’s really starting to come into her own as the next generation of players.” said Davidson, who’s been on Agosta’s case to play at a high level consistently.

“She’s brought great energy on and off the ice and she’s a lot of fun to work with.”

Now competing in her second Winter Games, Agosta had three goals in Thursday’s 10-1 win over Sweden for her third career Olympic hat trick — another Games record.

Playing on a line with Hefford and centre Caroline Ouellette, Agosta enters the gold-medal game with 14 points.

“Megs and I kind of think the game alike,” said Hefford. “We both play with good speed and like to go to the net on the outside.

“Caroline in the middle is strong and she moves the puck and supports so well. It’s a good combination and there’s been chemistry from the beginning.”

The line was put together in November and combines speed off the wings with Agosta’s scoring instincts and accurate shooting.

“She has such a rocket of a shot,” Ouellette said of Agosta’s 40-per-cent conversion rate.

“She’s always been one of the most talented players and this year she found the confidence, the chemistry with her linemates. Everyone would wish to play with her because she’s so talented.”

Agosta joined the national team in 2004 and is seeking her second straight Olympic gold, to go with a gold and two silvers in world championship competition.

She said building stamina and working harder every shift have been the keys to her success this season.

That work ethic was evident on Cherie Piper’s opening goal, where Agosta controlled the puck in Finland’s end during a line change then fed Piper from behind the net.

“I think I definitely have hockey smarts to be able to read the play,” Agosta said of her scoring instincts.

“I don’t think too much. I guess it just happens.”

Agosta, who leads Canada with 19 goals and 34 points in 20 international games this season, is simply looking to play a tough, Canadian-style brand of hockey against the Americans.

“We’re all talented hockey players,” said Agosta who wears No. 87 at Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pa., and insists it’s a reference to her birth year, not Sidney Crosby.

“We’re all great leaders. We just need to continue to go out there and give it our all. If you battle, great things happen.”

Notes:It was the third consecutive Olympic semifinal between the two countries … Canada won 6-0 in 2006 in Turin and 7-3 in 2002 in Salt Lake City … Agosta had five goals and nine points in six exhibition games against the U.S. this season.

Schelling and Russian goalkeeper Irina Gashennikova were both magnificent in net with either unwilling to give in to the other.

Stefanie Marty, who tied the game in the second period, put the Swiss up 2-1 in the shootout after beating Gashennikova with a backhand goal, while Schelling stopped Yulia Deulina to give the Swiss the victory.

The first period was highly contested with both teams trading frequent opportunities. Russia’s fore-checking was causing the Swiss problems in their own end and it would pay dividends.

The pressure would cause Sandra Thalmann of Switzerland to take a tripping penalty at the 8:00 mark of the first period and Russia capitalized quickly on the power play. Tatiana Burina beat a screened Schelling with a wrist shot to put Russia ahead 1-0.

Switzerland began to pressure but were beginning to get frustrated due to their inability to score on Gashennikova.

Russia’s Inna Dyubanok’s tripping call at 11:57 of the first put Switzerland on the power play but once again were unable to beat Gashennikova.

Early pressure by the Swiss in the second period caused three Russian penalties in the span of seven minutes. However, The Russian killed off the first two penalties brilliantly.

Gashennikova would finally succumb to the Swiss pressure as Mayer scored off a rebound during the Swiss’ third power play of the period, tying the game 1-1.

Both teams would trade power play opportunities late in the second but neither could take advantage.

With everything to play for in the third period, both teams came out strongly and once again traded power play opportunities.

Neither team was able to break the deadlock in the third period as Gashennikova and Schelling continued their strong play in the game.

Overtime began with the Russians on the power play but they were unable to score with the extra player. The physical play also began to pick up as both a Russian and a Swiss players needed to be helped to the bench after separate collisions in the Swiss zone.

A Marina Sergina elbow would put Switzerland on the power play with 2:41 left in overtime but Gashennikova would once again stand tall. Sergina was able to break in on Schelling after coming out of the penalty box with 12 seconds remaining only to be turned away by Schelling.

The energy in the building increased knowing a shootout was on the horizon.

Kathrin Lehmann of Switzerland began the shootout but was turned away by Gashennikova. Olga Sosina was Russia’s first shooter and was able to beat Schelling to put Russia ahead 1-0.

Nicole Bullo tied the shootout for Switzerland after scoring with a low shot. Schelling turned away Russia’s Iya Gavrilova to keep the shootout score tied at 1-1 allowing Marty to come up with the winner.

There was no shortage of power play opportunities as went Russia is 1-for-5 on the power play and Switzerland went 1-for-10.

Cherle Piper was the first scorer on the board for the red-and-whites, taking a perfect pass on the far post from Meghan Agosta after she had circled the goal with defenders trailing.

The second wasn’t quite so glamorous as Haley Irwin threw a stick into a goalmouth scramble and nudged an orphaned puck a few inches past Finnish goalie Noora Raty’s skate.

Canada’s third came midway through the second period, with Jayna Hefford tip-toeing through the Finnish defensive line before laying it off to Tessa Bonhomme on the charge. Her shot was blocked but Meghan Agosta was, as usual, Janey on the spot for her second of the night.

With measured play and strong hockey focusing on puck possession and physical superiority, the Canadians beat Finland in every facet of the game.

In fact, the Finnish team was having trouble just getting the puck out of their half of the ice while the Canadians darted through them like minnows while hitting them like sumos. Jenni Hiirikoski was leveled by Canada’s Gillian Apps in the third with a big shoulder to the chest that left the Finnish player spinning to the ice and winded.

Only the goaltending of Raty kept Finland in the game, but with a 5:1 shooting advantage, it was inevitable that another would slip by before long.

Sure enough, Haley Irwin knocked in a fourth after good work from Rebecca Johnston and Sarah Vaillancourt saw the puck rebound to the right. Irwin centred it in off Raty’s shoulder for goal number four.

The fifth came as Canada absorbed a power play, winning the puck mid-ice, as Marie-Phillip Poulin-Nadeau robbed the Finnish defense blind and fed Caroline Ouellete who tapped it home skating away.

Haley Irwin was Canada’s major threat, with eight shots on goal.

5-0 victory to Canada, and they go to the gold medal game Thursday.

Sounds like Sidney Crosby, doesn’t it? But Canadian women’s team forward Marie-Philip Poulin also has all those qualities. She’s also showing them at the same age Crosby did.

The 18-year-old from Beauceville, Que., is the youngest player on the Canadian women’s team and one of its most organically talented. She’s the future face of the Canadian women’s team, which is another Crosby parallel.

“That’s what people are talking about, that she’s the Sidney Crosby of women’s hockey,” Canadian goaltender Kim St. Pierre said.

“I kind of believe it. She’s only 18 and she’s already making the TSN highlights and other highlights. I think she has the talent to become the best for sure.”

A deft puckhandler and a nose for the net, Poulin scores goals that bring people to the edge of the seat, suck in their breath and say out loud, “Nice goal.” Her goal against Switzerland, Canada’s eighth of the game, was one of them.

“What I like to say is she sees the game through the blade of her stick,” Canadian assistant coach Peter Smith said. “If I was the other team, I would be on her and on her quick.”

Poulin credits her brother, University of Moncton hockey forward Pier-Alexandre, for helping her develop creative hands because they would bat the puck around at home on their sticks.

“He helped me since I was young. I owe him a lot,” said Poulin, who wears pearls given to her by mother Danye under her hockey jersey when she plays.

Like Crosby, Poulin isn’t overly big at 5-7 and 159 pounds, but she’s developed leg strength that makes her strong on the puck.

“She’s working out with Caroline Ouellette. They’re lifting the same weights and she’s only 18,” St. Pierre said. “She’s physically gifted, but she’s working hard. Her hands are so soft. In practices, every time she scores on me.”

Poulin has been a future star for the Canadian women since she led the world under-18 championship in scoring as a 16-year-old. She has 14 goals and nine assists in 26 international games for Canada, including three goals and an assist in her first three Olympic games here.

“The thing with her is she plays with a lot of freedom and joy and brings that almost from the outdoor rink to the ice,” captain Hayley Wickenheiser said. “She’s a lot of fun to watch.”

It could take Poulin longer than Crosby to assume a leadership role on the national team. At 22, Crosby is an alternate on the men’s Olympic team.

Once painfully shy, particularly in English, Poulin has come out of her shell in the months she’s spent centralized in Calgary with the Canadian team in preparation for the Olympics. She’s a little more talkative now, but not a lot.

“The other day I was walking down the athletes’ village and I heard, ‘Hi, Mel’ and I looked and it was her,” head coach Melody Davidson said.

“I almost fell down. That’s probably the most she’s said to me without me instigating it.”

A young player’s confidence can be fragile. Canada’s coaches have taken steps to ensure Poulin’s wouldn’t be shaken heading into the Olympics. While she has played on Canada’s top line alongside Wickenheiser, Davidson has put her with Jennifer Botterill and Gina Kingsbury at the Olympics, so there is less pressure on her to produce.

“It’s always a line I can go back to if I want,” Davidson said. “It’s a matter of getting her the most comfortable in her first Olympics.”

Poulin roomed with St. Pierre, Ouellette and goaltender Charline Labonte in Calgary, all of whom helped Canada win gold in 2006. So she had guidance throughout her Olympic preparation both on and off the ice.

“I made three big sisters this year and they helped me a lot,” Poulin said. “I talked with them a lot because they’ve been to the Olympics before and they shared the experience with me. It’s really awesome.”

With a 1-1 tie going into the third period, China pulled ahead on a goal from Rui Sun shortly after the five-minute mark. Linuo Wang scored another with eight minutes remaining.

Slovakia’s Petra Pravlikova scored the first goal of the game halfway through the first period, slipping the puck past Chinese goalie Yao Shi.

The 1-0 score held until China’s Linuo Wang scored on Slovakian goalie Zuzana Tomcikova with less than three minutes remaining in the second period.

China outshot Slovakia 32-21.

Lamoureux’s twin sister, Jocelyne, picked up two assists as eight Americans had two points in the game. Also doubling on assists were Erica Lawler (Fitchburg, Mass.), Jenny Potter (Edina, Minn.), Hilary Knight (Hanover, N.H.) and Molly Engstrom (Siren, Wis.) while Karen Thatcher (Blaine, Wash.), Kelli Stack (Brooklyn Heights, Ohio) and Caitlin Cahow (Branford, Conn.) each had a goal and an assist.

The U.S. will play the winner of Monday night’s Canada-Finland match for the gold medal on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. PST.

In less than a week, it will likely be time to update the welcoming billboards. They’re a little understated, the townsfolk noting that their favourite daughter was a gold medal winner at the Turin Games as part of the women’s hockey team.

Not only may Agosta win another gold on the ice here Thursday, in the process the 23-year-old will have established herself as one of the top players in the game and, quite possibly, the new face of Canadian women’s hockey.

Three games into the tournament, with a semifinal set for Monday against Finland, Agosta already has eight goals and 12 points to lead in both categories. She has tied the record for goals in one Olympic tournament, equalling fellow Canadian Danielle Goyette’s high watermark in 1998.

It’s been a remarkable evolution, from a chance to go to the Games at Turin, to Canada’s go-to scorer at Vancouver.

“Last Olympics, she didn’t get a ton of ice time. She was a young kid and it was her first time,” says veteran teammate Gillian Apps. “Now she’s kind of exploded on to the world stage. She’s a phenomenal hockey player.”

While she is becoming a bigger name at this Olympics, Agosta’s talent — the quick acceleration, the dead-eye accurate shot — created a buzz before she began in integrating into the national women’s team in 2004. The female Sidney Crosby she was sometimes called – even wearing the same No. 87 sometimes to commemorate the birth year she shares with the Kid — and the scouts took notice.

“Anyone who was breathing wanted her,” says Mercyhurst coach Mike Sisti, as he recalled the recruiting process that eventually brought Agosta to his campus as a criminal justice major.

One of things that attracted Agosta to Mercyhurst and one of the reasons she is where she is now as a player, was Sisti’s promise to push and challenge the teenager to improve. It would a free ride but not an easy ride.

The ambitious and hard-working Agosta embraced the notion. It was completely within character.

“It’s one thing say that’s what you want but it’s another to live it. She just has so much drive to be better,” says Sisti. “She arrived here as a young phenom with tons of talent now she’s got to the point where when the great players in the game are ready to pass the torch, she’ll grab it and move forward with it.”

“I think she can be the best player or one of the best players in the world.”

That was always the goal, from the moment a six-year-old Agosta convinced her dad, Nino, it was a good idea to give up figure skating for hockey because she wanted to one day wear the Maple Leaf for Canada.

“My goal is to be the best player in the world,” she says without hesitation now. “I know I have a lot to improve on still to be that person but yeah, definitely, that’s the goal and I’d love to be able to represent my country for years to come.”

At Mercyhurst, a powerhouse team ranked No. 1 in the nation 19 out of 21 weeks even without Agosta, she blossomed into a dominant player. Over her first three seasons, the Canadian shattered school records with 119 goals and 217 points in 100 career games. Along with her many honours, she has been a top-three finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Award, given to the top Division I women’s player in the NCAA, in each of her three seasons.

After taking this year off school to centralize with the Canadian women’s hockey team at Calgary, she will return to Mercyhurst for her senior year in September.

But, first, there is business to take care of here. Who knew the roads out of Ruthven would be paved in gold?