U.S. women bring 'A' game one match too late
King gets hat trick as team rebounds, beats Finland 4-0 for bronze
 | Katie King removes her mask as the U.S. celebrates their 4-0 victory over Finland on Monday. King scored three goals. |
Gene J. Puskar / AP |
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TURIN, Italy - Katie King wishes she could’ve thrown her gloves in the air like a graduation cap and jumped into a pile of her teammates on the ice.
Instead, she and the rest of the U.S. women’s hockey team had to settle for some hugs — and a bronze medal.
King scored two of her three goals in the first period to give the Americans a three-goal lead and they glided to a 4-0 victory over Finland on Monday, playing in a third-place game they would’ve rather watched on TV from their dressing room.
“It’s hard to be excited because we came for gold,” forward Kim Insalaco said. “We were living in disbelief the last two days, and we had to get over it. We wanted to play in the 8:30 game tonight.
“That’s going to be there for a while, and it’s going to be hard to get over.”
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One game too late, the U.S. hustled to loose pucks, finished checks and showcased superior talent in a dominating performance.
After time expired, the Americans gathered around goaltender Chanda Gunn, embraced, slapped backs and raised sticks to the crowd.
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“It was subdued after the game, but we’re happy to go home with at least some hardware,” said King, who added that she had played in her final game.
What do they have to show from the consolation match? As three-time Olympian Angela Ruggiero said Sunday, America’s women’s hockey veterans — herself, King, Tricia Dunn-Luoma and Jenny Potter — now have a complete set of Olympic medals: gold from Nagano, silver from Salt Lake City, and now bronze from the Turin Games.
Expecting to face Canada in Monday night’s gold-medal game, the American women ended up vying for bronze after the biggest shocker in women’s hockey history: Sweden’s 3-2 shootout win Friday.
“I am glad we had a couple of days after the semifinals,” U.S. coach Ben Smith said. “We had a chance to regroup.”
Though it fell to an anticlimactic game, the Americans played with inspiration, harassing the Finns and celebrating each goal.
One game too late.
Finland found itself smothered offensively — even with an extra skater — harassed by backchecking forwards and stingy defenseman. Despite having a power play early in the second period, the Finns didn’t get a shot on Gunn for more than 11 minutes.
Gunn had to make just 14 saves for the shutout.
It didn’t take long for the Americans to give her a cushion.
Two-plus minutes after the puck dropped, Kelly Stephens deflected Julie Chu’s shot past goaltender Noora Raty.
King scored twice — impressively — midway through the first period.
After a crafty off-the-boards pass from Helen Resor, King carried the puck along the right boards, swooped across Raty and flipped the puck above her. King pumped her stick in the air, then had another reason to celebrate a few minutes later. Potter fed King with a pass up the middle of the ice, she outskated defenseman Heidi Pelttari and wristed a shot over Raty’s stick.
“We came out and did not have enough speed,” Finn defenseman Emma Laaksonen said. “The USA won it in the first period.”
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The Americans made it 4-0 early in the second period on King’s goal off a circle-to-circle pass from Chu.
Finland then pulled Raty, replacing her with Maija Hassinen, but it was too late to make a difference. The two goalies combined for 16 saves.
The game was much different from the matchup in the preliminary round, when the U.S. rallied from a two-goal, second-period deficit to beat the Finns 7-3.
“We had to set the tone, if we gave them an inch, they would’ve taken it,” Insalaco said. “We didn’t do that the last time we played.”
One game too late.
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