Team USA beats Finland at Women’s Worlds to secure bye into semifinals

By @MichaelCaples –

PLYMOUTH – It wasn’t easy, despite Team USA out-shooting Finland by a 2-to-1 ratio.

They still needed to break a tie in the second half of the third period.

They got it done, however, and now, the Women’s National Team gets to rest for a few days.

Team USA beat Finland 5-3 Monday evening in Plymouth in the final game of preliminary round-robin play. With the victory, the Women’s National Team secures the top spot in Pool A, which gives them one of two byes into the Women’s World Championship semifinals.

“Well I thought for like 95 percent of the game we were really good and we did some good things,” said head coach Robb Stauber. “On the other hand, we had some lapses, and allowed Finland to get back in the game. We’ll be able to use the next few days to clean some things up defensively, and it’s just a matter of awareness.

“We’ve had the puck a lot on our sticks, and even tonight we had the puck a lot – sometimes when the puck’s on your stick a lot you have to remember there are two ends of the ice. We’ve got to make sure we take care of our end.”

Hannah Brandt scored the game-winning goal at the 52:25 mark of the contest after Finland erased a 3-1 U.S. lead.

“That’s what we play for – we want close games, we want to have to battle,” Brandt said after the game. “We’re going to need that going in to the semis and hopefully the finals, so I thought that was a great test for our team and for us to be able to come out on top shows the character of our team.”

Hilary Knight scored two goals for Team USA, while Kendall Coyne also scored and Joceylne Lamoureux-Davidson added an empty-netter.

Alex Rigsby made 21 saves in the contest.

The U.S. will watch Wednesday’s quarterfinals before returning to action Thursday for a final-four match-up at USA Hockey Arena.

Those quarterfinals will be Finland taking on Sweden at 3:30 p.m. tomorrow, followed by Russia vs. Germany.

Team USA will play the winner of the Russia/Germany game at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday; Canada will play the winner of the Finland/Sweden game beforehand.

Stay tuned for more from USA Hockey Arena…