Fillier’s puck hunting pays off in Canada’s dominant win over Japan

She’s been called the next Marie-Philip Poulin. The next big star of Canada’s national women’s team. But on Saturday night, Team Canada head coach Troy Ryan used a different term to describe the stellar play of Sarah Fillier: Shark.

“It’s like she’s at her best when she’s almost like a shark. She’s hunting pucks and she’s always aggressive and attacking, and I thought we saw signs of that today,” Ryan said after Canada’s 5-0 victory over Japan that saw Fillier register two goals and an assist. 

Since Fillier, who served as captain of Princeton’s women’s team this season, made her team Canada debut with the senior squad in 2021 we’ve seen some highlight-reel setups and goals from the Georgetown, Ont., native. We expect it. But on Saturday, it was Fillier’s solid net-front game — something Ryan said he spoke with her about earlier Saturday ahead of the club’s third match of the tournament — that stood out most. 

After Blayre Turnbull’s game-opening goal just 1:21 into the first period was overturned, a review revealing teammate Laura Stacey’s skate in the blue paint, Brianne Jenner got Canada on the board for the early lead off a nice setup from Poulin. Five minutes later, Fillier made it 2-0 when she pounced on a rebound off a Renata Fast scoring chance. She capitalized on another loose puck late in the third for her second of the game and third of the tournament so far. 

The chemistry of Canada’s second line, with Fillier flanked by veterans Sarah Nurse and Natalie Spooner, has been strong since the first game of the tournament, and Saturday it was at its best. Both Spooner and Nurse also scored, the line accounting for four of Canada’s five goals on the night. That chemistry is something Ryan has leaned on plenty already. 

“It’s good that we can kind of rely back on it because obviously Spooner hasn’t been there for a while and even Fillier, with our Rivalry Series schedule, she wasn’t able to attend a lot of it,” said Ryan. Spooner sat out last year’s women’s worlds while pregnant. Fillier’s Princeton commitments, meanwhile, means she’s away from the Canadian team at times. “So to be able to pull a line back together that’s had so much chemistry in the past, is key. I thought Nurse has been sort of the anchor for that line right now, and then Spooner is just kind of getting her feet under her.”

For Nurse, who assisted on Fillier’s first goal, the chemistry comes down to communication. 

“It’s a lot of fun to play with Filly and Spoons, and I think the best thing about us is that we just have that open line of communication,” she said. “Sometimes you have to have tough conversations, sometimes they’re the best conversations. But it’s always like, ‘How you feel about this? What are you seeing?’ And I think communication is the biggest part of our game. And so as long as we can do that, it’s going to be pretty helpful.”

Led by that trio, Team Canada was in control from the start on Saturday night, quickly setting the tone with a dominant possession game and relentless pressure in Japan’s offensive zone.

Despite the near-constant Canadian attack on offence, which saw Canada outshoot its opponent 26-1 in the first frame alone, Japanese starter Miyuu Masuhara held strong to keep the score to 2-0 after 20 minutes. She would start the second period, letting in a third goal before Japan’s head coach Yuji Iizuka made a mid-game change to play Riko Kawaguchi for the remainder of the matchup. Kawaguchi faced 26 shots, letting in two. By game’s end, Canada had outshot Japan 60-11. 

“We see the strong stick that they have, the goaltenders, they made unbelievable saves and they keep us away from her,” said Poulin, who one night after hitting the 100-goal mark against Czechia added an assist Saturday night for her fourth point of the worlds. “The goalies now, they’re so good and Japan has great goalies, a great team. They play hard and for us we just got to keep moving.”

At the opposite end of the rink, backup netminder Emerance Maschmeyer got the start for Team Canada, giving starter Ann-Renee Desbiens the night off after her 14-save victory against Czechia Friday night. Maschmeyer faced just 11 shots all night, but the shutout bid not go untested. Japan’s speed kept Canada on its toes at times, particularly late in the second period on a breakout play from the fleet-footed Remi Koyama that thrust Maschmeyer into the action. Japan’s best scoring chance came in the dying seconds of the game, one final push that was pure chaos in Canada’s crease. 

“Those are tough games for her, too,” Ryan said of Maschmeyer’s night. “With the work that she did get, it was busy. There were some scrambles where pucks were flying everywhere. But she knows, too, that’s her job. Her job is to stay fresh as much as she can. But it’s nice to see her get rewarded for sure.”

In addition to the win, which puts Canada’s preliminary record at 3-0, Saturday was also a milestone night for forward Emily Clark, who suited up for her 100^th game in red and white. 

Clark called the 100-game milestone “surreal” and “a really special day.”  She used another word, too: Fun. 

“I’ve honestly never had as much fun playing hockey as I am right now,” said Clark, whose family was in attendance for Game No. 100, just as they were for Game No. 1 back in 2015 when she made her worlds debut. “Every time you get to wear [the Team Canada sweater], you’re just that little kid that dreamt to do exactly what I get to do every time I put it on.”

Among Clark’s biggest lessons over the course of her career is being patient and taking the day-by-day mentality. That was a common refrain as she and her teammates were asked about their next game: Monday’s preliminary finale against rival USA. A razor-sharp focus on the task at hand — first Switzerland, then Czechia and Japan — has meant not looking too far ahead.

That was echoed by Nurse, too. 

“I guess for us, maybe in the past we would think ahead to that game. But it’s funny, as we go through this tournament, we’re a very day-by-day team,” she said. “So obviously, looking into tomorrow we’re going to turn our focus to the U.S. But as this tournament’s gone on we just wanted to build from each game.”

Now, the page can turn. 

“We know what’s happening. We have a practice tomorrow and again, we’re going to try to get better as a group and we all know what’s happening on Monday night, and we’re pretty excited,” said Poulin. 

“We know they have a great team, we’re a good team as well. We’ve just got to keep pushing.”

AROUND THE WORLDS

Saturday’s slate of games featured just one early matchup — a Group B meeting between Sweden and Hungary that saw Swedish forward Lina Ljungblom put up a hat trick in the first period followed by a fourth marker in the second frame en route to a 6-2 victory. The win marked Sweden’s first of the tournament, having lost 6-2 to Germany in their first contest.

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