Port Moody’s Jenna Buglioni and her teammates on Team Canada will play for a gold medal Thursday at the IIHF U18 women’s world hockey championships in Bratislava, Slovakia.
Buglioni scored the winning goal and set up another to lead Canada to a 4-1 win over Finland in Wednesday’s semifinal.
Buglioni’s game winner came just 61 seconds after Marianne Picard opened the scoring 6:11 into the first period. She also set up Lindsay Bochna with 32 seconds left in period to give Canada a 3-0 lead. Neither side scored in the second period.
Nelli Laitenen got Finland back to 3-1 when she beat Eve Gascon in Canada’s net less than five minutes into the third period. But an unassisted goal by Kendall Cooper restored Canada’s advantage.
Buglioni’s goal, along with three assists, ties her with Picard as Canada’s leading scorers.
Canada’s opponent in the gold medal game will be arch-rival United States, which defeated Russia 3-0 in Wednesday’s other semifinal.
