USA and Canada to meet in IIHF Women’s World Championship gold medal game

UTICA, N.Y. — Team USA and Team Canada will play in the gold medal game of the 2024 IIHF Women’s World Championship on Sunday.

The rivals have faced off for gold at 22 of 23 women’s world championships since 1990 — when the IIHF first sanctioned the event — including at last year’s tournament, which the United States won 6-3. The championship matchup was set after both teams won their semifinal games on Saturday night.

The host Americans beat Finland 5-0 in the first semifinal of the day. It took until the 12-minute mark in the first period for the U.S. to beat Finland starting goalie Sanni Ahola, who had an excellent start to the game making 13 saves in the first 10 minutes to keep the score 0-0 despite the American’s constant pressure in the offensive zone.

Ahola, 23, plays college hockey in the NCAA at St. Cloud State and was named the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) goaltender of the year. She made 50 saves in the loss for the Finns.

Laila Edwards scored a hat trick in the second half of the game to lead the U.S. in her first women’s world championship. In November 2023, Edwards became the first Black woman to play for the U.S. senior women’s national team. Edwards, 20, was named the American player of the game and is now tied for the tournament lead in goals (5) with teammate Alex Carpenter.

“She stepped up in a way that not a lot of people can,” said American forward Taylor Heise. “She’s got like a 70-mile-per-hour shot, so I tell her anytime you can shoot, shoot.”

“It’s why she made the team,” said USA coach John Wroblewski. “That it factor she possesses.”

LAILA EDWARDS HAT TRICK pic.twitter.com/HyM4aoJ2V7

— Hailey Salvian (@hailey_salvian) April 13, 2024

Savannah Harmon scored the fifth and final goal for the Americans. Aerin Frankel made 15 saves for her fourth shutout of the tournament.

Team Canada, on the other hand, beat Czechia 4-0 in the second semifinal of the evening. Blayre Turnbull opened the scoring less than five minutes into the game and Canada never really relinquished control of the game after that.

Defender Jocelyne Larocque doubled the lead before the end of the first period and Emily Clark scored less than two minutes into the second to put the game pretty well out of reach for Czechia. Klára Peslarová kept the game closer than it could have been with 43 saves on 47 shots.

Sarah Fillier also scored for Canada. Ann-Renée Desbiens made all nine saves she faced for a shutout.

Finland and Czechia will play for bronze on Sunday afternoon (1 p.m. ET). Czechia has won the last two bronze medals at women’s worlds, while Finland is looking to medal for the first time since 2021. It will be a rematch of the April 3 preliminary-round game where Czechia beat Finland 4-0.

USA and Canada will play the tournament’s final game on Sunday night (5 p.m. ET). Team USA beat Canada in their preliminary round match on April 8 in a fast-paced and physical 1-0 game that needed overtime — as these teams typically do — to be decided.

“If you can’t get up for something like that you gotta check your pulse,” said Canadian forward Emily Clark after Saturday’s game. “It’s a game you dream about as a kid and every year you just work to get back in that position. It’s exactly where we wanted to be and I just can’t wait for the chance to compete for gold tomorrow.”

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The Americans are looking to win back-to-back world championships for the first time since the team won five straight from 2013 to 2019, and gold on home ice for the first time since 2017 in Plymouth, Mich.

“It’s unbelievable in this environment,” Wroblewski said about playing at the Adirondack Bank Center. “I can’t get over how many times the USA chant rolls out and you feel it every single time from the bench.”

“We’re very honored to be playing on home ice and it’s something that we fully want to take advantage of,” added Heise.

Team USA will enter the gold medal game as the No. 1 seed and the favorite as the reigning champions. No team has scored more goals (31), and the top-six scorers in the tournament (Alex Carpenter, Hilary Knight, Kendall Coyne Schofield, Caroline Harvey, Abbey Murphy and Laila Edwards) are American.

Canada has done a lot of winning over the last few years, however, with back-to-back world championships in 2021 and 2022 and an Olympic gold medal in 2022, in dominating fashion. It has won the last two Rivalry Series — the seven-game exhibition series the two teams play throughout the season.

The keys to winning the 2024 world championship, according to Wroblewski will be driving play at five-on-five, winning the special teams battle, and the goalie duel. At last year’s world championship, it was a string of successful power plays — including a five-on-three — that gave Team USA the edge.

At this year’s tournament, the Americans have the second-best power play (25 percent), while Canada has only scored one goal on the advantage. Canada has the second-best penalty kill (94.12 percent), while the U.S. is not far behind in fourth (88.89 percent).

Canada’s head coach Troy Ryan said he’s not overly concerned about the small sample size on the power play.

“As long as it’s trending in the right direction, as long as you’re not losing momentum from it, I don’t stress too much,” he said. “You can see the movement now, like (Marie-Philip Poulin) has taken a little bit more control of getting switches and getting on her one-time side. We made a small adjustment by putting Fast in there … She’s playing very confident and the speed that she brings to that unit gives you a little jolt.”

Both starting goalies have been excellent this tournament. Ann-Renée Desbiens leads all goalies in save percentage (.973) and goals against average (0.49). Frankel is second in both metrics (.961 save percentage and 0.59 GAA) and leads the tournament with four shutouts in five starts.

The Canadian team is older than the U.S. roster and while that has meant Team USA often looks quicker and more skilled, the veteran experience on Canada’s roster typically comes in handy in a gold medal game.

“No matter what happens tomorrow, I can 100 percent say that I would pick the exact same lineup,” said Ryan. “It was the easiest group I’ve ever selected for Team Canada. Whether they’re old or young, I don’t even care. I pick the best players that we find available. I think we picked the right people because we have great character, great leadership, and great experience.”

Team USA won last year’s world championship on Canadian soil in Brampton, ON — not that anyone on Team Canada has forgotten.

“Obviously, I remember last year,” said Desbiens. “And we want this story to be different this year.

(Photo by Aron Broman / Bildbyran / Sipa USA / Sipa via AP Images)