Canada's Women Show Their 'Klass(en)' On the Ice

Day 2

Speed skater Cindy Klassen settled for the bronze medal in Sunday's 3,000 metres at the Torino Olympic Winter Games.

Dutch teenager Ireen Wust captured the gold medal in a time of four minutes, 2.43 seconds at the Oval Lingotto. Wust skated in the 10th pairing, so was left to watch anxiously from the inner circle as contender after contender fell short of her winning time.

Klassen, also the bronze medallist at the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics, covered the 7 1/2 laps in 4:04.37, well off her world mark of 3:55.75. Klassen even failed to win her pairing with Renate Groenewold of the Netherlands, who repeated as silver medallist. Groenewold clocked 4:03.48, almost a full second ahead of Klassen.

Klassen, from Winnipeg, faded badly over the final two laps and nearly stumbled as she cut inside down the stretch. Klassen had enjoyed spectacular success this season in the middle distances, setting new world records in the 3,000 and 1,500 on consecutive weeks and finishing second behind German rival Anni Friesinger in the 3,000 in World Cup competition at Turin. Friesinger, who, with Klassen, was considered the class of the field heading into the Olympics, finished fourth (4:04.59).

Ottawa's Kristina Groves placed eighth in 4:09.03 followed by Clara Hughes of Winnipeg in ninth (4:09.17).

Team Canada trounces Russia

Meghan Agosta celebrated her 19th birthday with a hat trick as Team Canada crushed Team Russia 12-0 at the Torino Esposizioni complex.

Charline Labonte stopped 17 shots in Sunday's victory, which guaranteed Canada at least second place in Group A. Canada can clinch the grouping with a win over Sweden in its round-robin matchup on Tuesday (CBC, 3:30 p.m. EST).

Hayley Wickenheiser had one goal and three assists. Vicki Sunohara opened the scoring 4:53 into the contest, leaping off the bench and charging hard to the net to convert a pass from Caroline Oullette. It was Ouellette's sixth point in two games. Less than two minutes later, Agosta banked in a shot off the stick of Russian goaltender Irina Gashennikova to make it 2-0. Gillian Apps smacked in her own rebound at the 10-minute mark for the first of two short-handed goals in the first period and Cassie Campbell worked into the slot to set up Danielle Goyette with 4:46 left. Cherie Piper later whisked in a loose puck off a faceoff and Wickenheiser scooped in a rebound after Gashennikova juggled the initial shot. Wickenheiser tops Canada with four goals overall. Agosta tallied her second goal on a breakaway with 40 seconds left, deking to the forehand and slipping the puck under backup netminder Nadezhda Alexandrova.

Canada eased off in the second period, but Katie Weatherston was credited with the eighth goal when Sarah Vaillancourt's pass struck her skate and fooled Alexandrova at 7:19. Agosta followed with Canada's first power-play goal, flipping in a rebound to complete the hat trick with 6:33 left. After Piper put Canada in front 10-0 with her second goal, a power-play marker 76 seconds into the third period, Vaillancourt scored at 7:47 before Carla Macleod completed the scoring with 7:27 remaining.

Charline Labonte was given the start in goal over Kim St. Pierre, who totalled five saves versus Italy. Canada trounced Italy 16-0 in Saturday's opener, the most lopsided victory in Olympic history, bettering its 13-0 pounding of Japan in the sport's debut at Nagano in 1998.

"We expected Italy to be weak," said Wickenheiser, who had three goals and two assists in Saturday's rout.

"I don't know if we would have predicted that score. But we're not going to apologize for winning by that much.

"It's the Olympic Games and we've got a gold medal to try and win. Personally, I don't like blowing out a team like that."


Later,
Kenaz

All 'Heil' Canada! In Torino

Day 1

Heil Wins Gold in Moguls

Canada's Jennifer Heil captured gold in women's moguls Saturday in Sauze d'Oulx, Italy, four years after narrowly missing the Olympic podium in Salt Lake City.

Heil, the last skier down the hill by virtue of her first-place finish in the qualifying round earlier in the day, posted a score of 26.50, 0.85 points better than silver medallist Kari Traa of Norway, the 2002 Olympic champion. Sandra Laoura of France took bronze, 1.13 points back of Heil.

I don't know what to say, this has been my biggest dream. I didn't know it could come true," said a jubilant Heil, who is from Spruce Grove, Alta.

Heil's jumps – a 360-degree spin and a backflip with her skis crossed – weren't as difficult as Traa's "D-Spin" on the top ramp, a double-twisting jump in which her body goes nearly parallel to the mountain. But the Canadian executed her tricks almost flawlessly and received a superior air score. Heil also scored higher than Traa on speed and form on the moguls, which counts for 75 per cent of a skier's final tally.

"I just felt so well-prepared," Heil said. "I was more relaxed than I've ever been in the start gate, which actually surprised me. But I knew it was just a sign I was ready to go out."

Heil's gold was Canada's first medal of the 2006 Winter Games and the first Olympic medal of her career. It was also the first gold by a Canadian woman in moguls. The 22-year-old finished fourth at the 2002 Games, missing the bronze by one hundredth of a point.

Canada clobbers Italy 16-0 in women's hockey

Caroline Ouellette and Hayley Wickenheiser posted hat tricks to lead Canada to a tournament-opening 16-0 rout of the host Italians in women's hockey at the Torino Olympics on Saturday. Ouellette made history with three goals in the first seven minutes of play as the defending champion Canadians counted five goals in the first period, four more in the second and seven over the final 20 minutes. Before Saturday, no Canadian player had scored more than one goal in a period at the Olympics. It was the biggest rout in Olympic women's hockey history, besting Canada's 13-0 dismantling of host Japan in 1998, when women's hockey made its debut at the Games.

"We expected Italy to be weak but we're not going to apologize for winning," Wickenheiser said.

Ouellette and Wickenheiser also joined Goyette as the only Canadian players to net hat tricks in the Olympics. Ten of Canada's 18 position players found the net on Saturday, including Gillian Apps and Cheryl Pounder with a pair each. Singles went to Danielle Goyette, Jayna Hefford, Jennifer Botterill, Carla McLeod, Sarah Vaillancourt and Katie Weatherston.

Cherie Piper led the assist parade with six, followed by Apps and Botterill with three apiece. Cassie Campbell and Wickenheiser set up two goals each. Canadian goaltender Kim St. Pierre barely broke a sweat as her teammates outshot Italy 19-0 in the third period and 66-5 overall before a crowd of 8,399.

The loyal Italian fans chanted "I-tal-ia! I-tal-ia!" early in the game and waved the flag in the final minute as they sang the national anthem.

Canada, which is expected to face the United States in the gold-medal game, will face a tougher Russian outfit on Sunday at 10:30 a.m. EST.

Elsewhere on Saturday, the Americans opened the tournament with a convincing 6-0 win over Switzerland. Only Patricia Elsmore-Sautter's saved her team from greater embarrassment, stopping 50 shots in the Swiss net.

The results of the Bell 3 Stars Poll, as voted by the fans, were Wickenheiser No. 1, followed by Ouellete and Italian netminder Debora Montanari.

Later,
Kenaz