Won't Get Fooled Again: USA Women's Hockey Has a Date with Gold

Let your mind flash back to the 2006 Olympic Games in Turin.  It was the semifinal game in the women's hockey tournament, and the matchup was Sweden versus the dominant U.S. team.  

Remember Swedish goalie Kim Martin standing on her head and stealing the game for the Swedes?

Remember the confused look on the American women, who normally coast through these games toward an inevitable U.S.-Canada showdown?

Do you remember?

Tonight, these American women remembered.

Coming off an unusually sloppy victory versus Finland, there was some doubt that the U.S. women were up to the task of beating their 2006 nemesis.  

Fortunately, this team refocused and took it to Sweden early and often, jumping out to a two goal lead in the first period, on goals by Monique Lamoureux, who netted a hat trick, and Meghan Duggan.

On the 30th anniversary of the 1980 Miracle on Ice victory the men, led by the current women's coach Mark Johnson, these women remembered how dominant they can be.

Jessie Vetter, coming off that sparkling performance verse Finland, was relatively untested all afternoon, having only to make 11 saves.

All time leading scorer Jenny Potter had two assists in this game, and even the defense continued their feeding frenzy.  U.S. defender Caitlin Cahow notched a goal and an assist, while fellow blue liners Angela Ruggiero and Kerry Weiland both had goals.

But, the afternoon belonged to Lamoureux, who capped her hat trick on a power play goal with 2:41 to play.  

The final score told the story well enough, with the U.S. winning

No one on this team has turned their focus from the real prize here; the coveted gold medal.  With the event in jeopardy from the IOC, these women are focused and ready for Thursday's showdown with the winner of Finland-Canada taking place later tonight.

Also of note:

Among the spectators at today's match, U.S. men's hockey GM Brian Burke sat in the stands, taking in the match, and kvetching over his own team, who earned a bye into the quarterfinals of the medal round after beating the heavily favored Canadians 5-3.

Since the Turin games, the U.S. Women's team has faced Sweden five times, not including Olympic exhibition.  They won all of those matches by a combined score of 30-2.

The U.S., showing their high octane offense, have outscored their opponents 49-3 on their way to the gold medal round.

The last time the U.S. captured the gold medal in this event was 1998, led by legend and U.S. Hockey Hall of Famer Cammi Granato.  That was also the first Olympics that offered the event.