2018 Olympic Winter Games (Women)

CANADA ROLLS PAST SWISS FOR PRE-OLYMPIC WIN

JASON LA ROSE

GOYANG, South Korea – Blayre Turnbull (Stellarton, N.S./Calgary, CWHL), Natalie Spooner (Scarborough, Ont./Toronto, CWHL) and Brigette Lacquette (Mallard, Man./Calgary, CWHL) scored two goals apiece, pacing Canada’s Women’s Olympic Team to a 10-0 win over Switzerland on Sunday in its final pre-tournament game ahead of the PyeongChang Games.

The Canadians scored early and often, getting goals from seven different players and points from 13.

Spooner and Lacquette led the way with three points each, while Laura Fortino (Hamilton, Ont./Markham, CWHL) and Mélodie Daoust (Valleyfield, Que./Montreal, CWHL) had a goal and assist apiece, and Meghan Agosta (Ruthven, Ont.), Marie-Philip Poulin (Beauceville, Que./Montreal, CWHL) and Jennifer Wakefield (Pickering, Ont./Linköping HC, SWE) added a pair of helpers each.

Shannon Szabados (Edmonton, Alta.) turned aside all 16 shots she faced for the shutout.

Fortino got the scoring started just 65 seconds into the first period; that would be the lone goal of the opening frame despite Canada holding a one-sided 19-5 advantage in shots on goal.

The floodgates opened in the second period, starting with a no-look marker from Turnbull at 4:14. She added her second just over two minutes later, and Lacquette rocketed home a power-play goal at 13:26 for a 4-0 lead.

Spooner counted twice in the final five minutes of the middle stanza; she finished a feed from Wakefield to make it 5-0, and went glove side on Swiss goaltender Florence Schelling in the final minute to push the advantage to 6-0 after 40 minutes.

Daoust converted the Canadian touchdown at 12:41 of the third period before Jillian Saulnier (Halifax, N.S./Calgary, CWHL) forced a turnover and converted a shorthanded opportunity for the 8-0 goal.

Renata Fast (Burlington, Ont./Toronto, CWHL) netted the ninth goal at 16:33 – her first international marker – and Lacquette capped the festivities with just one second to go, hammering in another point shot.

Canada heads to PyeongChang early next week, and opens its quest for a fifth-consecutive Olympic gold medal against the Olympic Athletes from Russia on Feb. 11 (7 a.m. ET/4 a.m. PT).