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Apr 08, 2008 09:17 AM
HARBIN, China'Finland and Switzerland produced back-to-back upsets over the United States and Sweden at the world women's hockey championships Tuesday. Heidi Pelttari scored a power-play goal 3:42 into overtime as Finland edged the United States 1-0 and Kathrin Lehmann's shootout goal lifted Switzerland over Sweden after they finished regulation and overtime tied 3-3. Lehmann finished the game with two goals in regulation and the shootout winner in Switzerland's first win over Sweden at the world championships. "This is huge," Lehmann said. "Right now we're just flying, this is unbelievable." "This is the biggest win in the history of Swiss women's hockey," head coach Rene Kammerer said. "We have two points and this is an incredible thing. We went in believing we had a chance. We just kept on believing." Lehmann started the scoring with her short-handed goal as the Swiss took a 2-1 after the first period. Sweden tied it again 2:02 into the second period before Lehmann scored the go-ahead goal. Tina Enstrom made it 3-3 for Sweden before the end of the second period. After a scoreless third period and five-minute overtime, Lehmann gave Switzerland the edge as the first shooter in the shootout. The remaining five players all failed to score. In the earlier game, Finland scored the only goal while on a two-man advantage. Gigi Marvin was penalized for tripping at the same time defenceman Julie Chu made a mistake on a line change. The U.S. was called for too many men on the ice and was two players short at 1:54. "That was my mental mistake and I take responsibility for it," Chu said. Finland goaltender Noora Raty made 30 saves for the shutout. U.S. goalie Jessie Vetter stopped 14 of 15 shots. It was the first time that Finland has defeated the U.S. "We have never been able to pull the win off against the Americans, and it has to be said that our goaltender made a big difference," Finland captain Emma Laaksonen said. "I'm not sure it was a shock," Chu said of the loss. "They've done well against us in the past. I don't think you're going to see the gaps between countries that we saw five or 10 years ago. Finland faces Canada on Wednesday and the U.S. takes on Canada on Thursday.
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