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Finland and Switzerland turned heads at the women's world hockey championship Tuesday, scoring upset victories to enhance their medal hopes.

Finland pulled out a 1-0 overtime win over the United States in Harbin, China, a game that preceded the Swiss' 4-3 triumph over Sweden, the 2006 Olympic silver medallists.

The closest Finland had previously come to a win against the Americans was a 3-3 tie at the 1997 world championships.

"I'm not sure it was a shock," American defenceman Julie Chu said of the loss. "They've done well against us in the past. I don't think you're going to see the gaps between countries that we saw five or 10 years ago."

The Finns have a chance to play in Saturday's championship game (7 a.m. ET) while Switzerland, which didn't even qualify to play in this tournament in 2005, was in the running for the bronze medal.

Even the idle Canadians, watching from rinkside after their practice, were caught up in the charged atmosphere.

"It's very good for the women's game when this happens. It gives people something else to talk about," captain Hayley Wickenheiser said.

"I think it kind of gives everybody a little bit of a lift and makes it more fun."

Canada had Tuesday off before back-to-back playoff games against Finland on Wednesday and the United States on Thursday (midnight ET Wednesday night).

The countries with the two best records among those three meet again for gold Saturday.

"We have a lot to accomplish before even thinking about the gold-medal game," Canadian forward Gillian Apps said.

'It's a must-win for them'

Canada and the U.S. have met in the final of all 10 previous world championships, but the Americans need a win Thursday against their archrivals if they are going to play for gold again Saturday.

"It's tough for them and they're going to come out even stronger against us," forward Cherie Piper said. It's a must-win for them. It's a reality check for us that we need to be focused and ready to come to the rink and play well."

After playing preliminary-round games at 7 p.m. local time, Canada has to be ready for two noon starts in the playoffs.

"It's not a time our team is really used to," admitted coach Peter Smith. "We'll get up early and get going. That's the key. You can't let them sleep in too long."

"It probably does take a little bit more, a more comprehensive warmup to get going first thing in the morning."

There has been constant speculation that the International Olympic Committee would dump women's hockey from its Olympic menu if the field didn't become more competitive. It debuted at the Winter Games in 1998.

International Ice Hockey Federation president and IOC member Rene Fasel does not think that will happen.

"The IOC is really working for women's sports and they are aware we need time and we need to be patient," Fasel said Tuesday. "You will see in Canada [in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics] we will have a much better tournament than we had in Torino.

"I would say that women's hockey is growing much faster than men's hockey. The men needed much more time for Switzerland to beat Canada in the Olympic Games — 86 years — and there will come a day when the Swiss women will beat Canada and it will be much faster than 86 years."

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