Olympics women’s hockey, USA vs. Finland highlights, score, recap

Team USA beat Finland 3-1 in their 2018 Winter Olympics women’s hockey debut

Going into the 2018 Olympics, many projected Team USA to be the Olympics women’s hockey favorites. After all, they won three consecutive World Championships, with each of those wins coming against Canada. Their campaign for their first gold medal since 1998 has begun, as Team USA beat Finland 3-1.

However, America needed a wakeup call before they started playing well. Near the end of the first period, Vinla Hovi put a beautiful pass from Petra Nieminen into the net. This gave Finland a 1-0 lead after the first 20 minutes.

That goal seemed to wake up Team USA. They came out strong in the second period, scoring two goals. Forward Monique Lamoureux-Morando scored the tying goal early in the second period. A perfect pass from Hilary Knight got deposited in the net by Kendall Coyne on the power-play, giving Team USA the lead they would not relinquish. Dani Cameranesi put the icing on the cake with an empty net goal with seconds remaining in the game.

20-year-old Maddie Rooney was outstanding in her Olympics debut. She stopped 23 of the 24 shots she saw. several of them of the highlight variety. Credit Team USA for not panicking after the goal by Finland. They were able to recover and stick to their gameplan. Team USA came away with a very well-deserved win.

Of course, credit must also be given to Finland. They gave the United States a true challenge, something rarely seen from anyone other than Canada. Noora Räty was Finland’s goalie and she nearly helped her country pull off a massive upset. She finished the game with a .951 save percentage.

Highlights

Next: Best Olympian from each state

What’s Next?

Team USA improves their record to 1-0-0. Their next game will be on Tuesday, Feb. 13 against the Olympic Athletes of Russia. This game will start at 7:10 a.m. ET.

Meanwhile, Finland falls to 0-1-0. They will face Canada on Tuesday starting at 2:40 a.m. ET.