Natalie Spooner's hat trick helped Canada rumble Russia 5-1 at the women's world hockey championship Monday, but the victory was costly. Captain Marie-Philip Poulin reinjured her left knee late in the first period. She limped to the dressing room and is not expected to play Tuesday against Finland. Poulin hurt her knee Feb. 24 playing for Les Canadiennes de Montreal in the final game of the Canadian Women's Hockey League's regular season. Poulin participated in warmup and remained on the bench supporting her teammates in Canada's first two games of the world championship. The captain looked strong and fast in her first shifts Monday, but her return was short-lived. WATCH | Marie-Philip Poulin leaves with knee injury: Marie-Philip Poulin reinjures knee in game against Russia Sports 0:24 Canadian captain Marie-Philip Poulin reinjures her left knee late in the first period. 0:24 Her knee buckled when she went into the boards with Olga Sosina late in the first period. "If you can't continue in the game, that's never a good sign," Canadian head coach Perry Pearn said from Espoo, Finland. "I'm disappointed for her. She's a great competitor. She's worked really hard to get herself in a position to be able to play. To have her first game cut short is disappointing. Obviously we'll see where it takes us." Spooner haunted Russia's net, scoring a pair of wraparound goals and also a tip-in to surpass the career 50-goal mark wearing the Maple Leaf. 4 points for Spooner "They wanted me to be around the net for sure on the power play and I was just kind of finding my way, getting used to being there and I'm enjoying it," Spooner said. "I can bang in some rebounds and tip some pucks, so it's going great." Spooner posted a four-point night, also assisting on a Blayre Turnbull goal. Rebecca Johnston also scored for the Canadians, who stayed even with Finland with both at 2-1 in Group A. WATCH | Big game for Natalie Spooner: Game Wrap: Spooner scores hat trick, Poulin injured in Canada's win Sports 1:22 Natalie Spooner's offensive outburst was overshadowed by Marie-Philip Poulin re-inuring her knee in Canada's 5-1 win over Russia at the World Championships. 1:22 Defending champion United States was assured first place in the pool at 3-0. Canadian goalie Genevieve Lacasse made seven saves for the win in her first start of the tournament. Russian defender Liana Ganeyeva foiled her shutout bid, scoring a power-play goal early in the third period. Pearn, meanwhile, said he felt confident prior to the game that Poulin was ready to play. "She's my linemate so to have her back was awesome," Johnston said. "I love playing with her and for the team, great to have our captain back. "To not have her finish is definitely disappointing, but she has to get better and hopefully she's feeling good and ready to go later in the tournament." Canada and the host Finns meet Tuesday to determine second place in Group A. The Americans conclude the preliminary round against Russia (1-2). Switzerland was 0-4 in the group. The top five countries in the IIHF's women's world rankings comprise Group A, while six to 10 make up Group B. Unbeaten Czechs top Group B All Group A countries and the top three from Group B will play in Thursday's quarter-finals. Saturday's semifinals are followed by Sunday's medal games. The Czech Republic topped Group B at 3-0. Germany was second with six points, ahead of Sweden with four points, Japan with three and France with two. Anna Shokhina returned to Russia's lineup after serving a two-game suspension for a kicking infraction at the buzzer of last year's Olympic bronze-medal game in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Captain Anna Shibanova was barred from last year's Olympic Games by the International Olympic Committee because of a doping rules violation. The Russians ferociously blocked shots in the first period and held Canada to a single goal in it. Canada put 45 shots on their net. Goalie Anna Prugova was pulled after Turnbull's goal at 6:22 of the second period for Nadezhda Morozova. Room for improvement "We played well the first period. We tried our best to be good on defence," said forward Alexandra Vafina, a University of Calgary Dinos alumnus. "The second period, we got tired and that's why we took so many penalties and got scored [on]. The third period was great. We won it." "We have some points where we have the puck in the offensive zone and we're not shooting a lot. We need to work on that, shooting and go to the net and take a rebound if we have it." Finland beat Canada for the first time in the preliminary round of the 2017 world championship in Plymouth, Mich., by a score of 4-3. "We have a lot of players who were [playing] then, but we also have the young ones here who have already proven they are not scared to play against them, so we have a group that's really confident," Finnish assistant captain Michelle Karvinen said. "You'll see us battling."<doc-sep>Share this Story: Canada out of women’s world hockey championship for first time in tournament history Canada out of women’s world hockey championship for first time in tournament history Article content ESPOO, Finland — Canada backing off its blue-collar brand of hockey opened the door for Finland’s women to make history Saturday. Finland will play in a gold-medal game and Canada won’t for the first time at a women’s world hockey championship because of the host country’s inspired 4-2 semifinal win in Espoo’s Metro Areena. We apologize, but this video has failed to load. tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Canada out of women’s world hockey championship for first time in tournament history Back to video The United States — an 8-0 winner over Russia in the other semifinal — will chase a fifth straight world title against a team working for a storybook ending to its tournament. The U.S. and Canada had met in the final of all 18 previous championships dating back to the first in 1990. The Finns upending the established world order atop the women’s hockey heap will be seen by some as good for the female game. The Canadian players struggled to find positives in the loss, however. “It’s hard to have that perspective as a player in the game,” captain Brianne Jenner said. “Right now it just feels like a loss for Team Canada, which we never like to have at the world championships. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content “We’re pretty disappointed with that outcome.” Finland rode superior special teams and the 43 saves of hometown goaltender Noora Raty to victory. It was the biggest upset among the top countries in women’s hockey since Sweden beat the U.S. in the 2006 Olympic semifinal en route to a silver medal. “It’s unreal and on top of that, to do it here on home ice, we’ve been working so hard for so many years now,” assistant captain Michelle Karvinen said. “It’s not just one good game. It’s something we actually have earned. “This is what needed to happen. I think it will open up a lot of the mindsets of women’s hockey that there’s more than two teams.” Finland’s power play produced its first two goals. Canada’s went 0 for 4, including almost two minutes of five-on-three early in the second period. Accustomed to spending a lot of time in their own zone in games against Canada over the years, the Finns knew how to defend a 3-2 lead after two periods. Chasing a team they’d beaten 6-1 in the group stage, the Canadians didn’t block shots on the penalty kill. Shooters didn’t find lanes when teammates battled for position in front of Raty. “I would say there was a little bit of panic when they got ahead of us,” Canadian defender Jocelyne Larocque said. “We weren’t expecting it. We didn’t respond in the way that we should have. “Could you say we underestimated them? For sure.” Finland’s Ronja Savolainen scored twice, including an empty-net goal, and had an assist in front of an announced 4,311. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content Defender Jenni Hiirikoski had a goal and an assist and Susanna Tapani also scored. Jamie Lee Rattray and Loren Gabel countered for Canada in the unfamiliar position of playing Russia for bronze Sunday. “You look at what you’re going to take from losing in a semifinal at the world championships, it’s finding out about your character,” said Canadian head coach Perry Pearn. “The character in the room will really be revealed. “We’ll find out who has it and who doesn’t. I’m learning about different players and learning who I can count on and who I can’t. Some of that got revealed to me today.” Shannon Szabados stopped 15 shots in her first loss against the Finns in 18 starts. After losing to the Finns for the first time in a preliminary-round game at the 2017 world championship, Canada then went 7-0 against them winning by at least three goals in every game until Saturday. Savolainen eluded a penalty in the first period when she pushed Canadian forward Blayre Turnbull head first into the corner boards in the first period. Turnbull, who Pearn calls “the conscience of the team,” left the ice with assistance and did not return to the game. “To me, what happened there is I think embarrassing for women’s hockey because checking from behind at every level is not acceptable,” Pearn said. “If that was one of our players on a Finn, I would want it called. “There’s a potential for someone to break a neck and for a veteran official like the group like we had, for them not to make that call is really wrong.” Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content Canadian players twice threw their arms in the air during third-period scrambles in front of Finland’s net celebrating what they thought was an equalizing goal. The second instance was quickly waived off and the first no-goal call was upheld after a lengthy review. Canada was minus captain Marie-Philip Poulin for all but part of one period at the world championship. The highest-scoring player on the Canadian roster reinjured her knee Monday attempting a return. The loss of Turnbull further weakened Canada’s attack Saturday. “It definitely hurts. They’re two amazing players.” Larocque said. “We definitely missed both of them immensely, but at the end of the day, we still needed to be able to come together as a team and find a way to win and we just didn’t do that.” Share this article in your social network Latest National Stories Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The Province Headline News Sign up to receive daily headline news from The Province, a division of Postmedia Network Inc. Email Address There was an error, please provide a valid email address.<doc-sep>The United States celebrated a women's world hockey title that the Finns thought was theirs Sunday in Espoo, Finland. The U.S. claimed gold at a fifth straight world championship beating host Finland 2-1 in a shootout. The Americans were up 2-1 in the shootout when goalie Alex Rigsby stopped Susanna Tapani for the victory. "We rely a lot on our goaltenders, and clearly Alex Rigsby showed up in a huge way that we knew she was capable of doing," U.S. forward Hilary Knight said. Annie Pankowski both scored in regulation and the shootout. Amanda Kessel also scored a shootout goal and Rigsby had 26 saves. WATCH | United States wins gold in a shootout: U.S. edges Finland in shootout to claim women's world hockey title Sports 0:32 United States wins 2-1 over Finland to earn a fifth straight women's world hockey championship title. 0:32 Finland goaltender Noora Raty made 50 saves a day after posting 43 in a 4-2 semifinal win over Canada. Finland's captain Jenni Hiirikoski, who was named MVP of the tournament, scored in the shootout. Tapani scored in regulation. WATCH | Finland's would-be winning goal waved off for goalie interference: Finland celebrates hockey worlds victory but goal is waved off Sports 0:33 Petra Nieminen scores but after lengthy review it's ruled Finnish captain Jenni Hiirikoski made contact with American goalie Alex Rigbsy. 0:33 Playing in their first final, the Finns celebrated what they thought was a golden goal by Petra Nieminen at 11:33 of overtime. The team and the sold-out Metro Areena convulsed in joy, but the goal was waived off after a review that lasted several minutes. Hiirikoski had made contact with Rigsby as she passed in front of the net. Nieminen had a near-empty net at which to shoot. Hiirikoski wasn't assessed a goaltender interference penalty, but Rigsby was given a tripping minor, which wrinkled many brows in the arena. Finnish Ice Hockey Federation chief executive officer Matti Nurminen said the situation was discussed with the International Ice Hockey Federation. "The referees on the ice had a different view on the situation than the video-goal judge," Nurminen said. "Referees on the ice were giving a penalty to the goalie for tripping and they were allowing the goal. "But when it goes to video review, the power and authority goes the video-goal judges. They saw it as goalie interference and made that decision. "IIHF president Rene Fasel said it was a judgement call. If you show it to 100 hockey persons, some per cent say it was a goal and some say it wasn't." "These are tough decision for the video goal judges. We have to respect their call." U.S. keeps the line moving So the American women's run of titles continues as they've now won eight of the last nine world championships. They also beat Canada in a shootout for gold at last year's Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. "It means we're continuing to develop our culture internally," Knight said. "We're trying to develop our younger players so they can step up and play big roles as our veterans phase out, making people comfortable all over the ice. "But we have a really special group. I can't say it enough. It's really magical to be in our room and something we try to cultivate every single time we get together." The U.S. and Finland had chances to end the game in overtime. Knight hit the post during an American power play, while the Finns couldn't generate the equalizer on two power-play chances. Sunday's championship game was the 19th in tournament history, but the first that didn't feature the United States and Canada battling for gold. Raty said silver felt bittersweet because she and her teammates had already experienced what it felt like to win gold. "I feel proud, I feel good and I also feel disappointed," Raty said. "I don't know how I feel. It almost would have been easier if we'd lost five nothing. "I'd probably be happier right now. But we were so close. We could taste it 'holy cow we're world champs' and they take it away."<doc-sep>In an unfamiliar game against an unfamiliar foe, Canada summoned the brand of hockey the team believes can win gold at the women's world championship. Blayre Turnbull's two goals in a 5-0 quarter-final win over Germany on Thursday were scored by driving hard to the net and paying a physical price in front of it for a deflection. Canada takes on host Finland and defending champion United States meets Russia in Saturday's semifinals. The winners play for gold and the losers for bronze Sunday. Facing Germany for the first time in over a decade and playing a quarter-final for the first time, the Canadians generated offence in the second and third periods battling below the faceoff circles. "We're starting to learn what we really are," Canadian head coach Perry Pearn said. "We're not an offensive juggernaut in terms of scoring goals. "We are a really hard-nosed, blue-collar team that's tough to play against. We grind teams down over time and that's the kind of game we have to play." WATCH | Highlights from Canada's win: Game Wrap: Canada cruise into semis at women's hockey worlds Sports 1:20 Canada breezed by Germany 5-0 to reach the semifinals of the women's hockey world championships. 1:20 Brianne Jenner contributed a goal and an assist for Canada with Natalie Spooner and Laura Stacey also scoring goals. Defender Brigette Lacquette had a pair of assists in front of an announced crowd of 744 at Metro Areena. Emerance Maschmeyer had nine saves for the shutout in her second start of the tournament. The Canadians gave Jennifer Harss a workout as the German goaltender repelled 61 shots. That equalled the number of saves Viona Harrer made in Canada's 8-0 win over Germany the last time the two countries met in 2007 at the world championship in Winnipeg. "When you play against Canada, you expect a lot of shots," Harss said. "Against them, it's just super-hard. We gave it our all. I think five-nothing is not too bad." New foes for U.S. and Canada Byes to the semifinals for the top two countries in Group A and quarter-finals for the tournament's second to sixth seeds were introduced to the championship format in 2011. Canada and the U.S. earned the byes every tournament, but expanding the field to 10 countries in 2019 has eliminated that advantage. So the Canadians and Americans got reacquainted with opponents they hadn't seen in years Thursday. In their first game against Japan since 2009, the U.S. prevailed 4-0. Finland downed the Czech Republic 3-1 and Russia blanked Switzerland 3-0 in Thursday's other quarter-finals. Germany has yet to score on Canada in six meetings. The Germans spent the majority of Thursday's game defending in their own zone. The Germans were effective in the first period when Canada outshot them 18-5, but led by a single goal. The Canadians started wearing down the Germans in the second period with a 29-3 margin in shots. "Any elimination game is tough because you know the other team is giving it everything they have to stay alive, just like we were," Turnbull said. "It turns up a notch when you get into the quarter-finals and of course, semifinals and the gold-medal game." Potent power play Spooner collected her fifth goal of the tournament to draw even with Kendall Coyne Schofield of the U.S. for the tournament lead. The Toronto forward muscled her way in front of Harss and tipped in a Lacquette blast from the point. "That's certainly our game plan, having a shot mentality and getting people in front of the goalie," said Jenner, who is wearing the captain's 'C' in the absence of injured Marie-Philip Poulin. "At every level, that's how goals are scored. You watch highlights from NHL playoffs last night and it's a lot of the same stuff." Canada scored three power-play goals on four chances. A pair of Canadian goals were waived off by officials — one for a goal-crease infraction and the other because the puck was directed by a skate. "Germany sat back, defended, defended, defended, so it's hard to get transition chances," Pearn observed. "Everything you create, you have to create in the offensive zone or on special teams. I thought the way we played after the first period was good. "Certainly we had lots of shots with traffic and that's what you have to do." Sweden edged France 3-2 for ninth place. Both countries were relegated to the Division 1 women's championship in 2020.<doc-sep>
Canada won't play for gold at the women's world hockey championship for the first time in tournament history. Host Finland earned a stunning 4-2 semifinal win Saturday in Espoo and will play for gold on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET against the United States, which dispatched Russia 8-0 in the other semifinal. Canada will face the Russians on Sunday at 9 a.m. ET in the bronze-medal contest. "It's unreal and on top of that, to do it here on home ice, we've been working so hard for so many years now," assistant captain Michelle Karvinen said. "It's not just one good game. "It's something we actually have earned." WATCH | Finland upsets Canada: Finland shocks Canada at hockey worlds, advances to final Sports 1:00 Canada fell 4-2 to Finland on Saturday, and won't play in the IIHF final for the first time in tournament history. 1:00 The U.S. and Canada had met in the final of all 18 previous world championship finals dating back to the first in 1990. Canada beat Finland 6-1 to cap the group stage of this year's tournament Tuesday. But the Finns had better special teams and goaltending Saturday. Savolainen paces attack In her 200th career game for Finland, goalie Noora Raty made 43 saves for the win before an announced gathering of 4,311 in her hometown. Finland's Minnamari Tuominen, left, and goalkeeper Noora Räty stop Canada's Ann-Sophie Bettez in Saturday's semifinal at the women's world hockey championship. Räty made 43 saves in her team's 4-2 victory. (Jussi Nukari/AFP/Getty Images) Ronja Savolainen scored twice, including an empty-net goal, for Finland. Jenni Hiirikowski had a goal and an assist and Susanna Tapani also scored. Right now it just feels like a loss for Team Canada, which we never like to have at the world championships. — Canada forward Brianne Jenner after Saturday's 4-2 semifinal defeat to Finland Jamie Lee Rattray and Loren Gabel countered for the Canadians, who trailed 3-2 after the second. Shannon Szabados stopped 15 shots in her first loss against the Finns in 18 starts. The Canadian women are now in the unfamiliar position of having to play for bronze Sunday. Finland's disruption of the established world order atop women's hockey will be viewed by some a good for the female game. But it was difficult for Canada to feel any positives in its loss. "It's hard to have that perspective as a player in the game," captain Brianne Jenner said. "Right now it just feels like a loss for Team Canada, which we never like to have at the world championships. "We're pretty disappointed with that outcome. We'll give credit to Finland for a game well played." Injured Turnbull exits in 1st period Canada was without captain Marie-Philip Poulin for all but part of one period at the world championship. The highest-scoring player on Canada's roster reinjured her knee Monday attempting a return. The loss of forward Blayre Turnbull in the first period Saturday further eroded Canada's attack. She was in a vulnerable position when Savolainen pushed her and Turnbull went head-first into the boards. The player head coach Perry Pearn called "the conscience of the team," was in a vulnerable position when Savolainen pushed her and Turnbull tumbled head-first into the boards. No penalty was called. Turnbull stayed down for a minute and left the ice with assistance and didn't return. "To me, what happened there is I think embarrassing for women's hockey because checking from behind at every level is not acceptable," Pearn said. "If that was one of our players on a Finn, I would want it called. "There's a potential for someone to break a neck and for a veteran official like the group like we had, for them not to make that call is really wrong." After losing to the Finns for the first time in a preliminary-round game at the 2017 world championship, Canada went 7-0, beating them by at least three goals in every game until Saturday. Power outage Finland scored its first two goals on the power play and the first three were generated off shots from the point. The Finns have spent years defending their own end against Canada, so they knew what to do to protect a lead. "We've been pretty confident that one day it could happen when we play a perfect game and I have a good game," Raty said. "So we finally scored three on Canada. "That doesn't happen too often. If you keep believing in yourself, anything can happen."