Team Canada advances to semifinals at IIHF Women’s World Championship
Team Canada has secured a spot in the semifinals at the 2024 IIHF Women’s World Championship.
Renata Fast scored twice while Laura Stacey, Natalie Spooner and Jaime Bourbonnais also connected in Canada’s 5-1 victory over Sweden in quarterfinal action on Thursday in Utica, N.Y. Emerance Maschmeyer made 17 saves in her second appearance of the tournament.
Although shots ended 44-18 in favour of the winners, it was another hard fought contest between the Canadians and Swedes who needed overtime to decide last year’s quarterfinal matchup. Like last year, this result pushes Canada into Saturday’s semifinals. The gold and bronze medal games will take place Sunday.
Fast opened the scoring just 2:25 into the first period, skating hard through the faceoff circle before cutting in front of Swedish netminder Emma Söderberg and sliding the puck five hole. Just over three minutes later, Blayre Turnbull forced a turnover in the offensive zone and fed the puck to Stacey who quickly made it 2-0 for the Canadians.
Sweden got on the board with two seconds remaining on a power play 11:26 into the opening frame. Hilda Svensson netted her fourth of the tournament by completing a quick three-person passing play to make it 2-1. The Swedes had another power play late in the first but could not net the equalizer.
Sweden had a couple quality chances to tie the game early in the second. After successfully killing off a penalty, Lina Ljungblom had a breakaway out of the box but missed wide. A couple minutes later, Sofie Lundin had a clear shooting lane and beat Maschmeyer but not the post.
Canada got some breathing room 8:11 into the middle frame when Fast fired a shot from the top of the circle that beat Söderberg through a screen to make it 3-1.
Canada’s top line of Marie-Philip Poulin, Sarah Fillier and Brianne Jenner had a number of great chances in the period to extend the lead but could not convert. Shots were 11-3 in favour of Canada in the second.
Both teams struggled to generate offensive chances early in the third. Midway through the period, the Swedes beat Maschmeyer but a quick whistle by the official overruled the goal.
With 6:04 remaining, Emma Maltais had the puck behind the net and found Spooner in front of the net who beat Söderberg with a forehand shot to give Canada a 4-1 advantage. Just 46 seconds later, Bourbonnais fired a shot from the line that beat the Swedish goaltender to quickly make it 5-1.
Thursday’s other quarterfinal games saw Finland defeat Switzerland 3-1 and Czechia down Germany 1-0. The United States and Japan were scheduled to meet following the Canada game.
Canada earned a spot in the quarterfinals following a 3-0-1 record in the preliminary round, outscoring opponents 12-2. The team picked up wins against Finland, Switzerland and Czechia before falling 1-0 in overtime to the United States to close out preliminary round play.
Team Canada has appeared in all but one gold medal game in the history of the IIHF Women’s World Championship. The team is looking to recapture gold after losing in last year’s championship match to the United States.
