2009-10 National Women's Team

CANADA OPENS 2009-10 SEASON WITH WIN OVER SWEDEN

CALGARY, Alta. – Hayley Wickenheiser may have been the centre of pre-game attention on Saturday night, but it was the rest of her National Women’s Team teammates that took over once the puck dropped.

On the night Wickenheiser (Shaunavon, Sask.) was honoured for playing in her 200th international game, Canada got multiple-point efforts from seven players as it opened the 2009-10 season and kicked off the road to Vancouver with a 7-2 win over Sweden.

Jayna Hefford (Kingston, Ont.) scored twice and added an assist to pace the Canadian offence, which outshot the Swedes 44-11 overall.

It was the youthful line of 21-year-old Haley Irwin (Thunder Bay, Ont.), 24-year-old Sarah Vaillancourt (Sherbrooke, Que.) and 20-year-old Jennifer Wakefield (Pickering, Ont.) that led the way in the first period, combining for five points in the opening frame.

Goals from Irwin and Vaillancourt sandwiched around Hefford’s first of the game as Canada took a 3-0 lead to the dressing room after 20 minutes.

It was more of the same in the second, as Brianne Jenner (Oakville, Ont.) scored her first international goal in her first international game, swatting a loose puck past Swedish goaltender Sara Grahn, and Hefford added her second to make it 5-0 just 5:06 into the period.

Elin Holmlöv got the Swedes on the board with a power play goal just past the midway mark of the middle frame, but Jennifer Botterill (Winnipeg, Man.) restored Canada’s five-goal lead before the end of the period.

Emma Eliasson and Colleen Sostorics (Kennedy, Sask.) traded goals in the third period to round out the scoring.

Shannon Szabados (Edmonton, Alta.) went the distance in goal for Canada, making nine saves for the win.

Goals/Buts : 
05:27 CAN Haley Irwin (Jennifer Wakefield, Sarah Vaillancourt) PP/AN
07:30 CAN Jayna Hefford (Jennifer Botterill, Meaghan Mikkelson)
19:17 CAN Sarah Vaillancourt (Jennifer Wakefield, Becky Kellar)

Penalties/Pénalités : 
04:14 SWE Elin Holmlöv (Roughing/Rudesse)
11:42 SWE Emma Nordin (Slashing/Coup de bâton)
12:07 CAN Brianne Jenner (Holding/Retenir)
18:02 CAN Hayley Wickenheiser (Body-checking/Mise en échec)
18:02 SWE Frida Svedin Thunström (Boarding/Donner de la bande)

Goals/Buts : 
01:27 CAN Brianne Jenner (Caroline Ouellette, Cherie Piper)
05:06 CAN Jayne Hefford (Cherie Piper, Meaghan Mikkelson) PP/AN
10:26 SWE Elin Holmlöv (Gunilla Andersson, Maria Rooth) PP/AN
17:50 CAN Jennifer Botterill (Jayne Hefford, Colleen Sostorics)

Penalties/Pénalités : 
04:12 SWE Cecilia Östberg (Interference/Obstruction)
08:35 CAN Caroline Ouellette (Hooking/Accrocher)
13:18 CAN Bench (Too Many Players/Trop du joueurs)

Goals/Buts : 
08:05 SWE Emma Eliasson (Gunilla Andersson, Cecilia Östberg)
19:24 CAN Colleen Sostorics (Tessa Bonhomme, Caroline Ouellette) PP/AN

Penalties/Pénalités : 
02:53 SWE Jenni Asserholt (Hooking/Accrocher)
10:14 CAN Becky Kellar (Interference/Obstruction)
11:49 CAN Hayley Wickenheiser (Hooking/Accrocher)
18:35 SWE Frida Nevalainen (Holding/Retenir)