Canada continued its imperious progress through this tournament with a comfortable victory over Switzerland. The final score, 6-0, says less about the quarterfinal performance than the almost total lockdown on the host nation’s offence. Canada held the Swiss to just one shot on goal in each period; a miserly defensive performance matched just twice in tournament history.

For Chloe Primerano, who had another three assists in a free-scoring tournament, the win was due to playing a full 60-minute game and denying Switzerland any breathing space.

"We just had to keep pushing and it would come," she said. "We had a lot of shots, but they had a great goaltender in there. We kept it going, and it went well for us."

It didn’t take long for Canada to assume control of this game. Inside four minutes, the defending champion had the lead. Sienna D’Alessandro, queen of the redirect here in Zug, struck again. This time she got enough of a Gracie Graham shot to send the puck through Talina Benderer’s pads. Even before that, Canada had asserted its grip on the game, but the Swiss would surely have hoped to make it harder to get that breakthrough.
 

After creating the first goal, Graham scored the second herself with a lethal snipe from the left-hand circle. Primerano assisted on both goals, moving to 11 (5+6) points in the tournament. That’s the second-best return from a Canadian defender in this competition, moving her ahead of this year’s head coach Tara Watchorn.

Not that Primerano is counting too closely. "It's just my team-mates helping me out," she said modestly. "I don't really look at individual accolades. I'm just worried about the team and what we can do in our next game."

With home ice advantage, the Swiss at least enjoyed some noisy support. Every save from Benderer – and she made 16 in the first period alone – was greeted with an approving jangle of cowbells. Any time Switzerland moved the puck towards Rhyah Stewart’s net, the noise kicked up another notch. Nonetheless, the host nation had a hard time and Sonja Inkamp’s effort was the only one to force Stewart into a save in the opening frame.

After the intermission, Switzerland showed some signs of slowing Canada’s dominance. The host drew a couple of penalties, earning some respite from that powerful offence. That meant less work for Benderer, who showed up well when needed to force Morgan Jackson’s menacing counterattack away from the net. At the other end, Xenia Balzarollo had a decent look on a turnover but opted for an early shot that Stewart gathered with little difficulty.

"We did pretty well," reflected captain Naemi Herzig. "We fought the whole game and I think the second period was very good. We almost held them to 0-0. We always knew it would be tought, they're a great nation."

In the building, there was a growing belief that Switzerland could hold Canada goalless through the second period. That belief intensified when Benderer pulled off three saves in quick succession to deny Primerano twice and Stryker Zablocki in between to set those bells ringing again. However, with 3:28 left on the clock, Maxine Cimoroni broke the Swiss resistance and added a third.

"That felt amazing but it couldn't have been done without my linemates," Cimoroni said. "Emma Venusio gave me a great pass and Jessica Pellerin screened in front."

The Canadians added two more goals early in the final frame. Primerano kept up her impressive form with a third assist on the 4-0 tally. She got the puck to the doorstep, and Claire Murdoch’s low shot bounced in off D’Alessandro’s skate. That play survived a video review to give D’Alessandro her second of the game. Then Jackson made it 5-0 in the 47th minute before Caitlin Kraemer touched home another Graham piledriver to wrap up a convincing Canadian victory.

However, as the Swiss prepare for a survival showdown on Saturday, Melanie Haefliger's team can take some comfort from the fact that this was the country's best result against Canada in WW18 play. The previous best was a 1-9 loss in 2011.

"This game will make us better for Saturday," Haefliger said. "We can learn something and the next step is to take this energy and speed and everything they gained from this moment. But first we have to relax a little bit tomorrow."