ST. CATHARINES, Ont. - Ashton Bell struck twice and Edith D'Astous-Moreau only had to make 12 saves as Canada beat Russia 4-0 in the semifinals on Thursday at the under-18 women's world hockey championship.
Canada will play the reigning champion United States for gold on Friday after the Americans downed Sweden 4-0 in the other semi.
Kayla Friesen and Ryleigh Houston also scored for the Canadians while Emma Maltais tacked on two assists.
"I think what I like best is the 60-minute effort," said Canadian coach Lisa Haley. "I thought we were responsible on both sides of the puck for the entire game, and that's what we've been looking for — a solid 60 minutes."
Valeriya Tarakanova started in net for the Russians and stopped 27-of-29 shots through two periods of work before giving way to Valeriya Merkusheva to start the third. Merkusheva kicked out 12-of-14 shots in relief.
Canada went 1 for 4 on the power play while Russia failed to score on two chances with the man advantage.
The Canadians dropped a 4-1 decision to the U.S in preliminary-round play. Discipline was a major factor as the Americans scored three times on the power play.
"It was really important for us to look at that U.S. game, look at the positives and the negatives, and try and fix them, but also let go of that feeling," said Ryleigh Houston.
Canada has appeared in the finals of every U18 women's world championship — winning gold in 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2014.
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