Hockey

The Canadian women's hockey team beat Sweden 4-2 on Sunday in Stockholm in an exhibition warmup game for the 4 Nations Cup, which will begin Tuesday in Vierumaki, Finland.

Marie-Philip Poulin (Beauceville, Que.), Meghan Agosta (Ruthven, Ont.) and Cherie Piper (Scarborough, Ont.) scored third-period goals to erase a Swedish 2-1 lead after 40 minutes. It gave Canada its fourth-consecutive win over Sweden this season.

Sweden opened the scoring at 11:58 of the first period, when a turnover in the Swedish end led to a quick rush for the host team. Emma Eliasson's shot from the point beat Canada's starting goaltender, Shannon Szabados.
Near the end of the first, Rebecca Johnston (Sudbury, Ont.) drove to the net with Haley Irwin (Thunder Bay, Ont.) on a 2-on-1. Irwin fed the puck to Johnston, catching Sweden's Kim Martin going the other way, and Johnston jammed the puck into the empty net.

The score remained 1-1 until the 18:15 mark of the second, when Sweden's Erika Holst brought the pro-Sweden crowd to its feet. Holst snapped a shot past Kim St-Pierre (Chateauguay, Que.) to make it 2-1 Sweden, sending the more than 1,000 fans into a frenzy.

That set the stage for a dominant third period for Canada, with Poulin tying the game just 30 seconds in, followed by two goals in less than three minutes just past the midway point of the period by Agosta and Piper.

Canada bombarded Sweden's Kim Martin with 54 shots, while Sweden had just 18 total on Szabados and Kim. St-Pierre, who shared time in the Canadian net.

Canada's National Women's Team has been in Stockholm since Thursday, and will travel to Finland on Monday. The other top nations in women's hockey will compete in the 4 Nations Cup: Finland, Sweden and the United States, the winner of last year's tournament.