Spooner Dangles

There are reports that this young lady to the left, Miss Natalie Spooner, is a pretty good hockey player. Some say she's tenacious around the puck. Some say she has a nose for the net. Others have alluded to a drive to win that's stronger than most. I can say that having seen her play once in-person that she's all of those things rolled into one while being wrapped around a helluva hockey player. Unfortunately for Finland at the 2015 IIHF Women's World Hockey Championship, they found out first-hand just how good Miss Spooner is at this game called hockey. And there's video to prove it.

It seemed as though Canada struggled a little early on against the plucky Finns. If we've seen anything from them over the years, they're inching closer to the Canadians and Americans and are certainly capable of upsetting the two powerhouses in women's hockey. Here's a vine from Yahoo!'s Neate Sager with Canada's third goal of the game and Spooner's second goal of the game. It's a beauty!

The defenceman that was victimized was Anna Kilponen. Kilponen will turn 20 on May 15, but she's played in the last four World Championships, including this one, as well as the 2014 Sochi Olympics. It's not like she's some green rookie on this stage despite Spooner making her look like she is.

The second part of the goal that really got me was how quickly Spooner went top-shelf on the backhand over Meeri Raisanen who literally had no chance in stopping that effort. Raisanen did all she could in trying to slow the Canadians down, but her 37-save performance wouldn't be enough on this day to pull off the upset.

Canada will play their old foes in the Americans after downing Finland by a 3-0 score. The Americans, for their part, trounced the Russians 13-1 in the other semifinal. Be prepared for an epic battle as the Americans come into the game as the favorites, I believe, simply due to their star-studded roster that includes Hilary Knight, Brianna Decker, and Kacey Bellamy. While Canada will be no slouches in their own right, the Americans have been slaughtering teams in this tournament.

We'll see what happens on Saturday as these two teams battle for the 16th time in the tournament's history for hockey supremacy.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!