Canada collides with Switzerland in women's worlds semifinal on TSN
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The 2022 Women's World Hockey Championship continues on TSN with semi-finals between Canada and Switzerland along with the USA and Czechia.
Watch the 2022 Women's World Hockey Championship doubleheader on TSN LIVE starting Saturday at 8:00 a.m. ET/5:00 a.m. PT with Czechia vs. USA followed by Canada vs. Switzerland at 12:00 p.m. ET/ 9:00 a.m. PT on TSN3, TSN.ca, and the TSN App.
After losing to the U.S. 5-2 in the final preliminary game of the tournament, Canada rebounded with a strong showing in the quarter-finals against Sweden.
Goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens, though not heavily tested, recorded a nine-save shutout while Jocelyne Larocque, Sarah Potomak and Erin Ambrose beat Sweden's Emma Soderberg.
Though they placed second in Group A behind the U.S., who went undefeated in round-robin play, Canada has otherwise shown their dominance throughout the tournament.
They have outscored their opponents 19-7 through the preliminary rounds with Georgetown, Ont., native Sarah Fillier among the tournament's leaders in goals (4).
Facing a Swiss team that entered the playoffs with a record of 1-3 and has been outscored 18-3, Fillier and her teammates will have plenty of opportunities to generate offence.
That said, the Swiss did put together an impressive showing against Japan as a late goal from forward Sinja Leeman forced overtime where Switzerland would go on to win in a shootout, punching their ticket to the semi-finals.
Saturday's game will mark the second time these two teams will have met in a playoff game this calendar year, dating back to the 2022 Beijing Olympics where Canada cruised to a 10-3 win in the semi-finals to propel them to the final where they struck gold with a win over the U.S.
Knowing there will be some animosity, leftover feelings and motivation from the Swiss squad, Canada's Victoria Bach told TSN's Julia Tocheri what they needed to do to be better come puck drop following their win over Sweden.
"I think we need to have a better net-front presence and try to capitalize on some more of our plays," said Bach. "Overall, I think we keep on building every day, we got to keep it up and bring another level."
Awaiting either Switzerland or Canada in the final will be the winner of the tournament's other semi-final game between the U.S. and Czechia.
Czechia, who has been a darling of the tournament, reached the quarter-finals with a thrilling 2-1 overtime win over Finland.
Their reward: a date with the Team USA's potent offence of Taylor Heise, Amanda Kessel, Hannah Bilka, and Kendall Coyne Schofield, who all registered over 10 points each in the round-robin.
The U.S. has shown no weaknesses thus far in the tournament, ranking first in offensive efficiency (14.33%), first in power-play production (40%), fourth in penalty kill (83.33%) and second in save percentage (93.75%).
If Czechia is to prevail and earn a berth in the gold-medal game, they'll need their tournament-leading goaltender Klára Peslarová to weather the impending offensive storm.