Canadian eves storm into final

BEIJING, April 10 -- Sarah Vaillancourt scored a pair of goals in the second period yesterday as Canada defeated Finland 4-2 to advance to the final of the World Women's Ice Hockey Championship in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.

Vaillancourt scored a powerplay goal 11:23 into the second period and added another 37 seconds later to give the Canadians a 3-1 lead.

Canada, the United States and Finland are playing in the round-robin playoffs. The teams with the two best records meet again for the gold medal on Saturday.

Katie Weatherston made it 4-1 for Canada late in the second. Jayna Hefford scored in the first period for the Canadians.

Canada and the U.S. have met in the final of all 10 previous world championships, but the Americans' surprise 0-1 loss to Finland on Tuesday leaves them needing to beat Canada today if they are to make Saturday's final.

As long as the U.S. earns no more than one point against Canada today, Finland and Canada will meet in the gold-medal game. Should the U.S. win in regulation or overtime, it would be the second team in the final.

Also yesterday, Sweden downed Russia 3-1 to keep its bronze medal hopes alive.

Ann Louise Edstrand gave Sweden a 2-0 lead after Klara Myren opened the scoring for the Nordic nation 1:39 into the game.

Sweden leads the group with four points, while Switzerland has two and Russia none. The winner of the group meets the third-placed team from the Canada, U.S., Finland group to decide the bronze medal.

To earn a berth in the bronze game, Sweden has to hope Russia beats Switzerland today. If Switzerland wins, it will go into the bronze game.

(Source: Shanghai Daily/Agencies)