After Marie-Philip Poulin got injured early in the game against Czechia, one would not be wrong to fear the worst for Team Canada. With the United States starting the women's hockey event strong and with Sweden looking like a fringe medal contender, Canada looked to be in for a much tougher fight.
After Canada lost to that same United States team by a score of 5-0 (sans Poulin), those fears could easily have turned to reality.
From there, Canada would turn things around and put themselves in a much stronger position to win gold.
They started with a 5-0 win over Finland to end their group stage campaign with a 3-1 record, good enough for second place in Group A.
On Saturday, Canada would not only get the 5-1 win over Germany in the quarterfinal round, but they would also get Marie-Philip Poulin back from a brief injury scare. She would also score one of Canada's five goals in that quarterfinal game.
With Canada having successfully rebounded from their blowout loss to the United States and with Marie-Philip Poulin back in the fold, the gold medal chase can truly begin once more.
But before they can get the chance to one-up the United States, they'll have to go through a Swiss side that hasn't exactly had the greatest tournament. Despite coming back to beat Czechia in overtime of their opening round robin game, Switzerland could not find their gear throughout the remainder of the group stage.
Switzerland would get off to a strong start in their second game and keep Canada off the board for much of the game's first half. But once Natalie Spooner scored the opening goal of the game in the second period, the floodgates would open up for the Canadians. Three goals in the final frame would keep the Swiss from coming back and ensure that a strong goaltending effort was for naught.
Their next game would see the Swiss get shut out once again by the United States. Unlike against Canada, where Switzerland was in the game well into the third period, the United States basically had Switzerland outside of arms reach by the end of the second period. The demoralization would continue in their final group game; not only did Switzerland once again get dominated in the shot count, but they would also lose 3-1 to Finland to finish last in Group A.
The Swiss would once again get outshot by Finland in the quarterfinal round. However, they would win the one statistical category that mattered the most, beating Finland 1-0 to advance to the semifinal.
With the Swiss entering this semifinal far away from their peak performance, this is an opportunity for Canada to truly get themselves back on track and reinforce their confidence ahead of a rematch with the United States. The Canadians completely dominated the opening game in all aspects, and their ability to get things going quicker than they did in that group stage game should decide the outcome of this game.
The Swiss won't lose this game without a fight. They should once again put up a strong goaltending effort and keep things competitive, however I do think that Canada will pull away and secure their spot in the gold medal game.