Canada routs Swiss 10-3, advances to Olympic gold-medal game

BEIJING (AP) — Claire Thompson had a goal and two assists and Canada erupted for five first-period goals in an Olympic-record span of 3:24 en route to a 10-3 win over Switzerland in the women’s hockey semifinals at the Beijing Games.

The Canadians continued their run of appearing in every Olympic final since women’s hockey made its debut at the 1998 Nagano Games.

Their win sets up a potential showdown against the United States on Thursday.

The defending champion Americans play Finland in a rematch of their preliminary round-opening game in the tournament’s other semifinal later in the day.

Switzerland will play in the bronze-medal game on Wednesday.