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All about timing Canada confident despite recent struggles against U.S.Posted: Monday February 18, 2002 2:35 PMBy Greg Di Cresce, SLAM! Sports Peaking at the right time -- it's like trying to catch lightning in a bottle. Or in the case of the Canadian women's Olympic hockey team, it's like trying to catch the American team on an off day. "I feel we've been catching up to the U.S. every game and believe if we play 60 minutes of great hockey we can win," said Canuck forward Jennifer Botterill, who scored three goals and two assists in the preliminary round of the 2002 Games. "We've been aiming to peak in February and I think we're going to do just that." And they'll need to. Canada has lost the last eight games they've played the U.S. "True, but the last time we met in Vancouver we out-played them in all but 10 minutes. I think we showed them and more importantly ourselves that we can beat them if we put an entire game together," said Winnipegger Botterill, a Harvard hockey star and psychology student. The Canada-U.S tilt in Vancouver saw the Canucks allow two goals 1:18 apart in the third to lose 3-2. That defeat marked Canada's eighth consecutive loss to the Americans. "Those losses certainly left the (Canadians) as clear underdogs. However, it's often better to feel like you're playing to win rather than playing not to lose," said Jennifer's father Cal Botterill, a professor of sports psychology at the University of Winnipeg. "And given the composition of Canada's team -- a mix of old and young -- I think they'll respond well to the underdog tag." Well, so far so good. Canada won Group A in convincing fashion, going 3-0 while outscoring the opposition 25 to zip. In their last preliminary game versus Sweden, the Nats trounced them 11-0. Botterill scored two goals in the win. Meanwhile, the U.S. team, Canada's arch-rival, went undefeated in Group B. Canada's next game is a semifinal match against Finland tomorrow. The Americans face Sweden in semifinal action later that same day. The winners play for gold on Thursday.
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