PYEONGCHANG, South Korea _ None of the last 10 days really mattered and that included Monday, when the United States cruised to a 5-0 victory over Finland in the semifinals of the women's hockey tournament.
The 17 games played up to this point have served as something of a prolonged and gratuitous qualification phase for the inevitable gold-medal contest between the United States and Canada.
So long as Canada defeats the Olympics Athletes from Russia _ in other words, Russia _ the anticipated rematch of the previous two Olympic finals will take place Thursday at Gangneung Hockey Centre. Count on it happening. The Canadians already crushed the Russians in the opening round of this tournament, 5-0.
These are the fifth Olympics to include women's hockey, but the sport as a whole remains painfully backward, as the national programs outside of the U.S.'s and Canada's are in the athletic Stone Age.
Finland was the perfect example of that.
The Fins are the world's third-ranked team but if they had as much as chance of upsetting the U.S. as they did of brokering world peace.
The Americans defeated the Fins in their Olympic opener, 3-1. This would be worse. Significantly worse.
All-world goaltender Noora Raty couldn't save the Fins, who were overwhelmed in virtually every aspect of the game. The U.S. went ahead in the first period, 2-0, on goals by Gigi Marvin and Dani Cameranesi.
The Americans showed they weren't here to play around, as a hip check by captain Meghan Duggan sent defender Ronja Savolainen head-first into the nearby walls. Savolainen crumbled to the ice and remained down for several minutes as her teammates crowded around her in concern.
Savolainen was escorted to the locker room, but later returned.
Duggan wasn't penalized for what she did to Savolainen, eliciting a chorus of boos from the half-empty arena.
The Fins never retaliated and the Americans continued to do whatever they wanted. Joselyne Lamoureux-Davidson's one-timer with 6:39 remaining in the second period extended the U.S. advantage to 3-0. Hilary Knight redirected a shot by Sidney Morin 34 seconds later to make it 4-0.
Cameranesi added a fifth goal in the third period.
Like that, the Americans advanced to the game they have waited four years to play.
The U.S.'s only gold medal at this tournament was won in 1998, the first year women's hockey was contested at the Games.
The Americans dropped the final game to Canada in 2002, 2010 and again in 2014. The most recent of the defeats was also the most painful, as the U.S. blew a two-goal lead in the third period and choked in overtime to lose, 3-2.
Curiously, the U.S. has been as dominant at the world championships as the Canadians have been at the Olympics. The U.S. has won eight of the 10 world championships contested since 2005, including the last four.
The U.S. and Canada played each other in the last game of the group stage of this Olympic tournament. Canada won, 2-1, but it didn't matter. Only the game Thursday counts.
