A grinning Rebecca Johnston celebrates her hat trick in Canada’s 9-0 defeat of Sweden on Saturday night. Allen Douglas/KTW
Team Canada couldn’t have asked for much more from their final pre-tournament game.
Playing host to Team Sweden in its final tune-up game before the 2016 IIHF Women’s World Championship in Kamloops, Canada was dominant on the ice at Sandman Centre on Saturday, posting a 9-0 win.
Twelve of Canada’s 18 skaters had at least a point in their first game in Kamloops, nine of those with two points or more.
Goaltender Emerance Maschmeyer stopped all 16 Swedish shots and, in her 100th game in a Canadian uniform, Rebecca Johnston notched a hat trick to lead the Canadians in goals.
“We were happy with our performance today,” said Canadian head coach Laura Schuler.
“I thought Sweden actually came out really hard at us initially and obviously got some really good scoring chances against us and kept us honest. We were able to continue to work on the things we needed to work on to be successful as we move forward. I thought the puck seemed to be going in our direction tonight.”
Canada scored early and often in its debut at Sandman Centre, with four goals in the first period, three in the second and two in the third.
Johnston had her hat trick before the team had reached the midway point of the second period and seemed to have good chemistry with linemates Brianne Jenner and Jillian Saulnier — also her teammates on the Canadian Women’s Hockey League’s Calgary Inferno.
Saulnier finished the night with three assists, Jenner with two.
“It was obviously a good game for my line and I’m just excited to get this game under our belts and start the tournament on Monday,” Johnston said, looking toward Canada’s first group game against the United States on Monday.
Puck drop for that contest is 7:30 p.m. at Sandman Centre.
“I think we’re all really excited to play the U.S., the first game,” she continued. “It’s obviously exciting and it’s going to be a good game.
“I think we’re just excited for the tournament to start, finally. It has been a couple weeks now that we’ve been together.”
Canada opened the scoring a little more than three minutes into the first period on Saturday night, when Saulnier picked up a breakout pass from defenceman Tara Watchorn, skated into the Sweden zone and found a trailing Johnston, who wired in her first of three goals.
Canada’s Jennifer Wakefield scored again a little more than a minute later and Johnston chipped home a cross-ice pass with five minute remaining in the frame.
In the final minutes of the first, Natalie Spooner danced through a handful of defenders at the Swedish blue line and dished the puck off to Hayley Wickenheiser. The longtime Canadian dropped to a trailing Halli Krzyzaniak who fired a slapshot on goal. The puck bounced off and over the glove of Sweden’s Minatsu Murase, rolling into the net to give the Canadians a 4-0 lead at the break.
Things would only get tougher for Sweden from there. In the second, Spooner scored on a redirection of a Brigette Lacquette point shot and Johnston one-timed a Jenner pass for her third goal of the night. Spooner picked up her third of four points with time winding down in the second, redirecting a pass from Marie-Philip Poulin to put Canada ahead 7-0.
In the third, Wakefield added her second goal of the night and Meghan Agosta picked up a goal for her second point of the night.
The victory brought Canada’s record in pre-tournament action to 2-1. The world championship hosts split a pair of games against teams from the Okanagan Hockey Academy (OHA) in Penticton earlier this week, before facing off against the Swedes.
“I think in the last three games I’ve seen what we needed to see to make sure that we’re ready to go,” Schuler told reporters after the game.
“They [OHA] really tested us in terms of our speed and our ability to play fast and the defensive part of our game — so I was really happy with that.
“Tonight, things seemed to be clicking for us offensively, so it seemed to be a complete picture for us now.”
NOTES: Canada named its leadership group before the game, giving the captaincy to F Poulin and assistant captaincies to F Agosta and D Laura Fortino. . . . Canada led 52-16 in shots. . . . Both teams were scoreless on the power play, with Canada going 4-for-4 on the penalty kill and 0-for-3 with the man-advantage. . . . Spooner led Canada with four points on Saturday (two goals and two assists), while Lacquette, Johnston and Saulnier all had three.