Team USA scores 10 goals vs. Japan to roll into IIHF women's semifinals
Team USA made light work of Japan in Thursday's quarterfinals and took the next step in defending the International Ice Hockey Federation Women's World Championship it won for the 10th time last year.
Eight players scored goals in a 10-0 victory at the Adirondack Bank Center that puts the USA in Saturday's semifinals against Finland. That game is schedule for a 3 p.m. start with Canada and Czechia to follow. The gold medal game will be played Sunday at 5 p.m.
The Americans opened the scoring on an unassisted Lacey Eden goal four minutes into the game. Eden was one of four players to score her first goal of the tournament Thursday. Caroline Harvey, Tessa Jenecke and Joy Dunne were the others, and 12 U.S. players have now scored goals in Utica.
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Hilary Knight scored from her knees 4 1/2 minutes later and Alex Carpenter, after assisting on Knight's goal, scored the first of her two, giving the US a 3-0 lead at the end of the first period.
Six more goals were scored in the second period. Dunne, Harvey, Janecke and Kirsten Simms got in on the scoring, and Abbey Murphy had both of her goals. Carpenter completed a two-goal, two-assist performance and finished the game's scoring with her goal five minutes into the third period.
Knight (1 goal-3 assists), Murphy (2-1), Eden (1-1), Harvey (1-1), Janecke (1-1), Kendall Coyne Schofield (0-2) and Megan Keller (0-2) joined Carpenter with multiple points. Knight is the team's captain while Carpenter and Keller are alternates, all retuning in those roles from the 2023 gold medal team.
"Credit to our veterans," coach John Wroblewski said. "They showed up to play like they should, and scored some big goals."
Wroblewski credited the team's experienced leaders for setting an example for younger players like tournament first-timers Dunne and Simms.
"The top line's inspirational," the 21-year-old Murphy said of Knight, Carpenter and Coyne Schofield, a three-time Olympian back with the team after taking last year off. "They really set the pace, set the limits. … It's cool for the younger players to learn from them."
The United States had last scored at least 10 goals in a game when it defeated Czechia 10-1 in the 2022 semifinals. Team USA beat Japan 10-0 in its first game in pool play in Denmark that year, and beat Japan 7-1 in last year's opener in Canada.
The US outshot Japan 48-14, and Aerin Frankel made 14 saves in the third shutout for her and fourth for the team in five games at the tournament.
Finland, Team USA's semifinal opponent and a 3-1 quarterfinal winner over Switzerland on Thursday, was the only team to score against the United States in pool play; Elisa Holopainen scored twice on the Finland power play in a 5-3 US victory April 6.
Canada and Czechia won the other quarterfinals and will play the game following the United States and Finland Saturday. Saturday's winners meet in the gold medal game at 5 p.m. Sunday at 5 p.m.; the United States has been a finalist in all 22 Women's World Championship tournaments, and Canada has been the opponent 21 times.
This article originally appeared on Times Telegram: USA beats Japan 10-0 in IIHF Women's World Championship quarterfinals
