Women's Olympic Hockey Update

The round robin portion of the Olympic women's hockey tournament has been over for a couple days. The semifinals will be played tomorrow (Friday) and the finals on Monday. It is time to update the round robin results.

Group A

1. Canada - They dominated their group winning their three games by a combined scored of 36-1. Leading the way were Hayley Wickenheiser and Cherie Piper with 12 points each and Gillian Apps with 9 points. So far they have been the class of the tournament.

2. Sweden - This team has been quite solid. They handily defeated Italy, had a tougher win vs. Russia and then lost to Canada. Their offence is lead by Maria Rooth and Gunilla Andersson.

3. Russia - After they lost to Sweden, they seemed to lose heart as a medal looked unlikely. They lost badly to Canada, but managed to defeat Italy. Svetlana Trefilova is their top scorer.

4. Italy - As host country, they got an automatic bid into the tournament. They were horribly outclassed. They lost by a combined score of 32-1. Their goal was scored by Sabina Florian.

Group B

1. USA - USA won all their games but failed to dominate. They were unable to score a lot of goals against either of Switzerland or Germany and they were losing after two periods against Finland, before dominating the third period. Offensively, they are lead by Sarah Parsons, Jenny Potter and Angela Ruggiero.

2. Finland - They looked very good in the round robin and even held the lead against USA after two periods before they failed in the third period. They seemed to not have the stamina to play with America for three periods (but they certainly could for two). Their top goal scorer was Mari Pehkonen.

3. Germany - Their only goals were in their 2-1 win against Switzerland. Michaela Lanzl led the way by scoring one goal and assisting on the other.

4. Switzerland - Their only goal was in their 2-1 loss against Germany. They were held close in many of their games with some very good goaltending by Patricia Elsmore-Sautter. Their goal was scored by Tina Schumacher.

In the semi-finals, Canada will play Finland and USA will play Sweden. The two winners will play in the gold-silver game and the losers in the bronze-4th game.

For a look at the men's tournament, look here for my predictions.