The United States dominated throughout the preliminary round, outscoring opponents by a 31-1 margin in three games, including 12-0, 13-1 and 6-0 victories over China, Russia and Finland. Next up for Team USA was a match-up with Sweden in the semifinals. After being upset by the Swedes at the Olympics in 2006 in the same round, the Americans came out strong and retaliated with a 9-1 win for a trip to the gold medal game against top-seeded Canada. In a hard-fought battle for gold in front of the largest crowd ever to witness a female hockey game, the only two goals were scored by Canada’s Marie Philip Poulin, as Canada won by a 2-0 count.