U.S. back in women's final after Swedish rout

Monique Lamoureux scored three goals, Jessie Vetter made 11 saves and the United States women's hockey team rolled into the Olympic gold-medal match with a 9-1 semifinal victory over Sweden on Monday.

Caitlin Cahow, Karen Thatcher and Kelli Stack each had a goal and an assist at Canada Hockey Place as the U.S. avenged its 2006 upset loss to Sweden at the Torino Games.

The win means the Americans will play in the gold-medal game Thursday against the winner of the Canada-Finland game Monday evening.

The rematch was a comprehensive thrashing of the Swedes and goalie Kim Martin, who came nowhere close to her 37-save performance at the 2006 Games.

After outscoring their first four opponents by a combined 40-2, the U.S. team will face the winner of Finland's semifinal meeting with tournament powerhouse Canada. The win by the United States can set up the long-anticipated meeting of the sport's North American leaders.

U.S. won the gold in 1998, with Canada looking to prevail for a third consecutive time at the Games.

Vetter soundly outplayed Martin, who let in a few stoppable shots and made at least one accidental save off her mask. The Americans' superior offence took care of the rest, jumping to a 4-0 lead early in the second period on consecutive goals by Angela Ruggiero and Cahow. Three goals on their first six shots of the third period finished the scoring.

Sweden's win in the Turin Games handed the U.S. the first loss ever by a North American team in a major women's hockey tournament. Martin was the star, but she missed much of last season with a knee injury, only recently returning to competition.

Except for the symmetry of another semifinal meeting, there was little reason to expect a repeat: The U.S. team hadn't lost to Sweden in five international meetings since Turin, outscoring the Swedes 30-2 before beating them three more times in exhibitions leading up to Vancouver.