OTTAWA — Meghan Agosta-Marciano scored a hat trick to pace Canada to an 8-0 win over Finland at the women's world hockey championship Friday.
Brianne Jenner contributed a pair of goals with Bailey Bram, Jennifer Wakefield and Sarah Vaillancourt also scoring for the hosts.
With the victory, Canada finished first in Pool A with eight points ahead of the U.S. with seven.
Marie-Philip Poulin, Catherine Ward and Haley Irwin each had two assists for the defending champions in front of 18,013 at SBP Arena. That is a record for attendance at a female hockey game, according to Hockey Canada.
Shannon Szabados earned the shutout with 16 saves.
Finnish goaltender Noora Raty made 30 saves on 36 shots before she was replaced by Meeri Raisanen in the third period. Raisanen allowed two goals on seven shots.
In what is the second year for this tournament format, the top four countries in the world are grouped in Pool A and the fifth to eighth are in Pool B.
Canada and the United States get byes to Monday's semifinals as the top two teams in their group. Finland was third with three points and Switzerland fourth with zero in Pool A.
Russia went undefeated to top Pool B and Germany was second with four points. Russia faces the Swiss in one quarter-final and the Finns take on Germany in the other Saturday with the winners advancing to the semifinals.
The U.S shut out Switzerland 5-0 in Friday's other Pool A game. In Pool B games, Russia blanked Sweden 4-0 and the Germans doubled the Czech Republic 6-3.
Sweden, the Olympic silver medallist in 2006, and the Czechs were the bottom two teams in Pool B and fall to a best-of-three relegation round.
Canada was without captain Hayley Wickenheiser for a second straight game. Canada's all-time leading scorer suffered an upper-body injury in a 3-2 shootout win over the U.S. to open the tournament Tuesday.
She left that game in the second period and did not play in her team's 13-0 win over the Swiss the following night.
"We're encouraged. She's improving," head coach Dan Church said earlier Friday. "I would expect her to target Monday. We feel pretty good about that. Still day to day, but she's progressing."
Finland has never beaten Canada, although there have been some closer games in recent years. Raty plays for the NCAA champion Minnesota Golden Gophers and was a finalist for the award that goes to the NCAA's top player this season.
The Canadians pounded Raty with 50 shots at the world championships two years ago in Zurich, Switzerland, yet won by a score of just 2-0.
But Finland's goaltender and defence did not hold up under Canada's onslaught Friday.
Trailing 3-0 in the second period, Finland's best chance to get into the game was Venla Hovi's back-to-back scoring chances and a two-man advantage for a minute 50 seconds.
After Szabados stopped Hovi on a breakaway, the Finn had another opportunity on a turnover. Hovi thought she scored, but the Canadian net was pushed off its moorings and the referee waived it off. The Finns were unable to convert a 5-on-3 with both Lauriane Rougeau and Ward serving minors.
Agosta-Marciano scored her first of three goals with a minute to go in the second period and again less than two minutes into the third to make it 5-0. The Finns pulled Raty after Vaillancourt's goal at 4:26. Wakefield and Agosta-Marciano quickly scored on Raty's replacement Raisanen.
The longer the Finns and Raty can keep Canada from scoring, the more confidence they gain. So Bram's first career goal for Canada's national team at 14:25 of the first period was a shot across Finland's bow. Jenner scored a pair before the period ended for her third and fourth goals of the tournament.
Over 300 girls' hockey teams have descended upon Ottawa for the Ontario Women's Hockey Association provincial championships, which contributed to Friday's game setting a single-game record for attendance at a female hockey game.
Ottawa held the previous record of 16,347 set Jan. 1, 2010, when Canada defeated the U.S. 3-2 in a shootout in a pre-Olympic game.
Montreal's Caroline Ouellette also didn't play against the Swiss because of an upper-body injury, but returned to the lineup Friday to play her 200th career game for Canada.
She's the third player in history to reach that mark. Jayna Hefford is a game away from 250 and became the all-time leader in this tournament ahead of Wickenheiser at 247.
"To get to 200 international games with our national team, it's going to get harder and harder to get to that level with the quality of players we have coming through the under-18 and under-22 programs," Church said. "To keep your position on this team for that length of time is pretty special."
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