Turin – They had seen the movie “Miracle” so many times that some of them could recite the lines.
In the hours before Friday’s Olympic semifinal against the United States, Swedish forward Maria Rooth and some of her teammates decided the time had come to give women’s hockey its own version of that legend.
Sweden’s 3-2 shootout victory will go down as a landmark in the women’s game. While Rooth and her teammates hurled themselves into a blue-and-yellow pile on the ice, the U.S. women bit their lips and felt the sting of a day they knew would come.
As far back as September, coach Ben Smith warned that Finland and Sweden were at the doorstep of an historic upset. The Finns came close, and the Swedes made it happen.
The Americans had gone 73-0-2 against the six Olympic participants other than Canada. That included a 25-0 record against Sweden.
“We said Thursday we were going to make a new miracle,” said Rooth, who scored the shootout winner and both of Sweden’s goals in regulation. “If we just believed we could beat them, we thought it could happen.”
As Sweden’s players got high-fives from NHL stars and countrymen Peter Forsberg and Mats Sundin, U.S. goalie Chanda Gunn fought a losing battle with tears, and Angela Ruggiero could not grasp the reality of playing for a bronze medal.
That will happen Monday against Finland, which lost 6-0 to Canada on Friday.
“I’m in shock right now,” Ruggiero said. “It’s a huge day for Sweden. It hurts, but we have to stay positive, because we can still win a medal.”
