The US and Canada overcame slow starts against Nordic opponents yesterday to reach their ninth consecutive final at the IIHF Women's World Hockey Championship.
Canada, which has beaten the US in every final since the inaugural event in 1990, failed to score in the first period for the first time in the tournament before blanking Finland 3-0 behind two goals by Jayna Hefford.
Sweden led the other semifinal before the Americans rallied for a 4-1 victory. The host nation and Finland will play for the bronze medal before the title game.
The Americans scored three goals in the second period to take control. Kelly Stephens tied it 1-1 with a power-play goal at 2:38, Katie King made it 2-1 at 16:38 and Molly Engstrom added another power-play goal at 18:27. Natalie Darwitz scored early in n the last periond.
"It was expected, but they [Sweden and Finland] battled hard today ... we'll battle it out tomorrow" Angela Ruggiero said.
Canada has only lost one game in championship history and that came last year when the US won a round-robin game 3-1 at Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Therese Sjolander scored Sweden's goal with just 51 seconds left of the first period with the Americans shorthanded.
Hayley Wickenheiser, who played men's third-division hockey in Finland last year, also scored for Canada. It was Wickenheiser's 98th goal in international hockey.
Canada outscored its first four opponents 38-0 -- the first time in championship history a team has not conceded a single goal on its way to the gold-medal game.
"We're a confident team, but they definitely gave us a challenge today," Hefford said.
With another title, Canada will match a record for consecutive world hockey championships won by a country. The former Soviet Union men's team won every crown from 1963 to 1971.
Charline Labonte earned the shutout for Canada, stopping all 16 shots she faced. Head coach Melody Davidson will decide whether to start Labonte or Kim St. Pierre in the final. Each goalie has played two games in the championship.
Finland, a bronze medalist in all but one of the previous worlds, held Canada goalless for in the opening period by staying out of the penalty box and defending their goalie Annakaisa Piiroinen, who had 38 saves in the game. But they didn't create many dangerous scoring chances.
Wickenheiser scored a fluke goal at 3:17 in the second period, her hard shot off the boards bouncing back towards Piiroinen and deflecting off the goalie's skates and into the net. Danielle Goyette got an assist.
Hefford, named Canada's most valuable player in the game, made it 2-0 just 47 seconds later when she beat Piiroinen with a low shot to the glove side.
In games for fifth to eighth places, China shut out Kazakhstan 3-0 and Germany beat Russia 2-1 at Norrkoping.
Dynamo Moscow were crowned Russian champions after beating Lada Togliatti 3-1 in a penalty shootout on Friday to clinch the championship playoff.
Dynamo won thanks to goaltender Vitaly Yeremeyev who saved three penalties and kept out dozens of goal attempts during the match, which finished 1-1 at the end of regulation time.
Alexander Chupin scored six minutes into the first quarter before Lada's Ilya Vorobyov equalised after 18 minutes.
This year's championship has enjoyed a higher profile than usual because the NHL lockout has seen many Russian players who ply their trade in the US turning out for clubs at home.
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