IIHF women's world championship updates: Canada sets up unbeaten showdown with US
🏒🏒🏒 The United States has an off day on Day 5 of the IIHF Women's World Championship, following a 5-3 victory over Finland on Saturday night at the Adirondack Bank Center in Utica.
Observer-Dispatch and Times Telegram journalists Jon Rathbun and Daniel DeLoach are there for all the action and will be keeping you up to date throughout the tournament. Reporters Amy Neff Roth, Laura Sitterly and Ellen Mintzer will also be bringing you news and updates during the tournament.
Keep checking back here all day as we update on the games and more as Team USA pursues its 11th tournament championship.
Read the story: Canada shuts out Czechia, sets up US showdown at IIHF Women's World Championship
Canada wins 5-0; unbeaten showdown with USA set for Monday
The final buzzer sounds on a 5-0 Canada victory over Czechia and the stage is set for the game to which many IIHF Women's World Championship spectators have been looking forward: unbeaten Canada vs. unbeaten USA Monday evening in the final pool play contest for both squads.
Canada or the United States has won each gold medal awarded in the previous 22 tournaments with Canada leading 12-10 after the United States won last year in Brampton, Ontario. Since the tournament went to its current format in 2012, Canada's 2017 loss to Finland is the only pool play loss for either national against anyone else; Finland beat Canada again in a 2019 semifinal.
On Sunday, Canada got a goal and two assists from Kristin O'Neill, two assists from Sarah Nurse, goals from Danielle Serdachny, Laura Stacey and Renata Fast, and 13 saves from Ann-Renee Desbiens who earned the shutout, her first and the team's second of the tournament. Canada has allowed one goal while outscoring Czechia, Finland and Switzerland 12-1 in three victories.
Klara Peslarova made 37 saves for Czechia which is now 1-2 with a pool play game remaining Tuesday against Switzerland.
Pool play wraps up Tuesday. Wednesday is an off day before all four knockout round quarterfinals are played Thursday.
Canada vs. the United States is the final game of Monday's tripleheader. The puck is scheduled for a 7 p.m. drop.
Canada 4-0 at second intermission; Colgate star gets scoring started
Colgate Raider Danielle Serdachny got the scoring started for Canada Sunday and the Canadians led Czechia 3-0 after one period and 4-0 after two.
Serdachny, playing in her second World Women's Championship, scored 2:07 into the Pool contest. Kristin O'Neill assisted and later scored Canada's second and third goals.
Danielle Serdachny with her first of the tournament to put Canada on the board first! #CANCZE #womensworlds @hockeycanada pic.twitter.com/n0mWQCZJhZ
— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) April 7, 2024
Renata Fast got in on the scoring with a goal in the second period assisted by Jamie Lee Rattray and Sarah Nurse who had earlier assisted on O'Neill's first goal.
Canada outshot Czechia 18-2 in the first period and 11-6 in the second.
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Canada takes on Czechia in Pool A in Sunday's afternoon game.
Canada has won its first two games against Finland and Switzerland, allowing a single goal, while Czechia has split decisions, beating Finland and losing to the United States.— jon rathbun (@LFTimes_sports) April 7, 2024
Denmark beats China in shootout for first win
China pushed another game to overtime and, eventually, a shootout Sunday but Denmark left the Adirondack Bank Center with a 2-1 victory this time.
With time running down in the third period, China avoided a shutout and tied the score at 1 with a Kong Minghui goal at 18:09. Minghui was in position near the right post and scored with a putback on a shot taken by Fang Xin coming in on the left side. Yu Baiwei also assisted.
Neither team could break the deadlock in five minutes of sudden death three-on-three play, and the game went to a shootout, the format under which China had earned an earlier victory over Japan.
Two of the first three Denmark shooters scored - Frederikke Foss and Nicoline Jensen - while China went 0-for-4, ending the shootout before completing the first round of five.
China had beaten Japan with a single successful attempt while Japan went 0-for-5.
Denmark had taken a 1-0 lead in the second period with a goal scored by Amanda Refsgaard, assisted by Jensen and Frida Kielstrup.
Denmark outshot China 35-24 and got 23 saves from Emma-Sofie Nordstrom in its first win of the tournament. Zhan Jiahui made 33 saves for China.
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The Sunday schedule winds up with a Pool B game between China (1-1, winner of the tournament's only shootout so far) and Denmark (0-2).— jon rathbun (@LFTimes_sports) April 7, 2024
Sweden first with three wins
Thea Johansson, Sara Hjalmarsson and Josefin Bouveng added goals to the Sweden total during the third period and Sweden is the first team with three wins at this year's World Women's Championship at the Adirondack Bank Center.
Sweden has won each of its first three games in Pool B play and finishes with a game Monday morning with a game against Germany which is also undefeated with two games to play. Sweden has outscored Japan, Denmark and China 17-4.
Bouveng tallied two goals and one assist, and Hjalmarsson had one and one. Bouveng has four goals in the tournament and has scored in each of her team's games.
Sweden wound up outshooting Japan 43-18, and goalie Emma Soderberg was credited with 16 saves. Riko Kawaguchi stopped 37 shots for winless Japan.
Japan falls to 0-2-0-1 with a game against Denmark in the final pool play contest Tuesday evening.
The five teams in Pool B are competing for three spots in Thursday's quarterfinal knockout round. All five Pool A teams - the United States, Canada, Czechia, Finland and Switzerland - are assured of spots in the eight-team knockout round.
Japan pulls even - briefly; Sweden leads 3-2 at second intermission
Japan tied Sunday's morning game with one power-play goal and Sweden untied it 24 seconds later with another late in a second period that ended with Sweden leading 3-2.
Unbeaten Sweden had led 2-0 after the first period. Haruka Toko scored first Japan, and Makoto Ito tied the score with her goal at 18:12. Ito was sent to the penalty box for hooking 16 seconds later, and Sweden regained the lead eight seconds after the ensuing faceoff when Hilda Svensson scored a goal assisted by Maja Nylen Persson and Hanna Olsson.
Josefin Bouveng and Ebba Hedqvist had scored goals two minutes apart in the first period for Sweden. Hedqvist scored on a power play.
Sweden has a 34-9 shot advantage after two periods. Japan made up a two-goal deficit in the second period with only four shots.
Japan vs. Sweden, 11 a.m.
Day 5 of the 2024 World Women's Championship gets started with Sweden (2-0-0-0) and Japan (0-1-0-1) in Pool B on Sunday. Follow Jon Rathbun's X feed here:
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Day 5 of the 2024 World Women's Championship gets started with Sweden (2-0-0-0) and Japan (0-1-0-1) in Pool B.— jon rathbun (@LFTimes_sports) April 7, 2024
Are tickets available for today's games?
Yes, as of noon Sunday, tickets were still available for the Canada vs. Czechia game at 3 p.m. and the China vs. Denmark game at 7 p.m. Go to 2024.womensworlds.hockey/tickets or the Adirondack Bank Center box office for tickets.
Follow Jon Rathbun's X feed during Saturday's Team USA victory over Finland
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Team USA vs. Finland to finish the day.
The United States has won its first two games in Pool A, a 4-0 shutout of Switzerland and last night's 6-0 win over 2022 and 2023 bronze medalist Czechia.
Meanwhile, Finland has scored one goal in losses to Canada and Czechia.— jon rathbun (@LFTimes_sports) April 6, 2024
Photo gallery from Germany's 4-1 victory over Japan
IIHF Women's World Championship schedule on Sunday, April 7
At Adirondack Bank Center
11 a.m. — Sweden vs. Japan
3 p.m. — Canada vs. Czechia
7 p.m. — China vs. Denmark
IIHF Women's World Championship schedule on Monday, April 8
11 a.m. — Germany vs. Sweden
3 p.m. — Switzerland vs. Finland
7 p.m. — USA vs. Canada
IIHF Women's World Championship schedule on Tuesday, April 9
11 a.m. — Germany vs. China
3 p.m. — Czechia vs. Switzerland
7 p.m. — Japan vs. Denmark
IIHF Women's World Championship schedule on Thursday, April 11
10 a.m. — Quarterfinal
1:30 p.m. — Quarterfinal
5 p.m. — Quarterfinal
8:30 p.m. — Quarterfinal
IIHF Women's World Championship schedule on Saturday, April 13
11 a.m. — Fifth-place game
3 p.m. — Semifinal
7 p.m. — Semifinal
IIHF Women's World Championship schedule on Sunday, April 14
1 p.m. — Third-place game
5 p.m. — Championship
➤ Here is the full IIHF Women's World Champioship schedule.
More: Players to watch at the IIHF world championship tournament
How to get tickets
Tickets for most of the IIHF Women’s World Championship games are still available and can be purchased by visiting 2024.womensworlds.hockey/tickets or stopping by the Adirondack Bank Center box office.
The marquee pool-play game of the tournament, between USA and Canada at 7 p.m. April 8, is also sold out, as is the gold-medal game, scheduled for 5 p.m. Sunday, April 14.
How to watch the games at home
In the United States, all games will be broadcast on NHL Network, including its streaming service. For international viewers, fans can catch the games on the following networks/streams:
TSN/RDS (Canada)
SVT (Sweden)
Discovery (Finland)
Czech TV (Czechia)
Magenta (Germany)
TBS (Japan)
Swiss TV (Switzerlan)
This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: IIHF women's world championship scores, updates, schedule for April 7