WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah (KRT) — Maybe it’s a sign.
As the U.S. women’s hockey team beat Sweden in Tuesday’s semifinals, 4-0, some people held up a piece of posterboard against the glass by the bench. In blue letters was the word “Michigan.” Below that was a red heart. Below that more blue letters spelled out the name “
Angela Ruggiero.”
Friends, right? Family?
“I don’t know who that was,” said Ruggiero, a defender who lives in Harper Woods. “Just someone from Michigan, I guess.”
Pause.
“That,” Ruggiero said, “was cool.”
Ruggiero, Brownstown Township’s Shelley Looney and the other Americans earned the right to face archrival Canada in Thursday night’s final. The Canadians beat Finland, 7-3, earlier in the day.
Four years ago at Nagano, Looney scored the winning goal against Canada as the Americans won the sport’s first Olympic gold medal. The Canadians won the next three world championships.
The Americans went 8-0 against Canada this season. Still, Looney said she expected the final “to probably be the best hockey you’ve ever seen.” The United States and Canada are far ahead of the rest of the world in women’s hockey.
How far? Although the Americans blew out Sweden in one of the biggest games of their lives, although they took 32 shots to Sweden’s 10, no one thought they played their best.
“I’m not sure the USA was going all that they can,” Sweden’s Erika Holst said.
Said Looney: “Sweden came out strong, and I don’t think we came out as hard as we could. It was good for us to be able to play both ends of hockey, getting ready for the next game, I guess you could say.”
Cammi Granato led the Americans with two goals and an assist. Katie King and Natalie Darwitz also scored. Tara Mounsey and Krissy Wendell each had two assists.
“They came out physical on us,” King said. “The first and second periods, we didn’t play like we can play. Sweden’s style was frustrating. We came back strong in the third period and took it to them.”
The Americans promised a better effort against Canada.
“When the buzzer went off tonight, it hit me that we’re in the gold-medal game,” forward Julie Chu said. “It should be a great battle out there. I expect nothing less.”

Canada 7, Finland 3
Trailing after two periods, 3-2, the Canadians scored five times in
the third.
“I don’t think a freight train could have stopped us,” Canada’s Tammy Lee Shewchuk said. “Obviously, we don’t like having three goals scored against us. But we had to overcome them. I like that we’ve been tested. We could have collapsed, but we didn’t. It shows the determination that the girls have.”
Therese Brisson and Hayley Wickenheiser each scored twice. Cassie Campbell, Jayna Hefford and Vicky Sunohara also scored. Tiia Reima scored twice and Katja Riipi once for Finland, which will face Sweden in the bronze medal game Thursday.
“We started off pretty well, but then I think we started to panic,” Canada’s Kelly Bechard said. “When you panic, everybody wants to be the leader and be the one to get the team going. … I was quite surprised that Finland had played so well and that we were behind. But I think in the third period we showed what we can do.”