Monday, April 8 will be a big day in Utica, NY. Not only will the undefeated Canadian and United States Women’s hockey teams face off against each other, but the Utica area will experience a total eclipse shortly after 3 PM EST. Although it will last just over three minutes, millions of people have flooded upstate New York to get a viewing of the rare event.
The eclipse will not affect the US-Canada contest, as the puck drop for that game is scheduled for 7 PM EST, but it will happen during the game between Switzerland and Finland.
Both squads won their games before the matchup and are undefeated heading into the final game of Group A. The tournament’s top five seeds in Group A and the top three in Group B advance to Thursday’s (April 11) quarterfinals. The semifinals are on Saturday (April 13), and the medal games are on Sunday (April 14).
Canada Blanks Czechia
Kristin O’Neill scored twice and had an assist in Canada’s 5-0 win, while Danielle Serdachny, Renata Fast, and Laura Stacey also scored. Sarah Nurse had two assists. Goaltender Ann-Renee Desbiens posted a 13-save shutout in her second win of the tournament.
Czechia didn’t help itself with four minor penalties in the first 10 minutes. What would have been a Sarah Fillier power-play goal on Canada’s second chance was waived off for goaltender interference.
Canada plays a second game in as many days on Monday and for the second time in the championship. The Canadians won 4-1 over Finland and 3-0 over Switzerland in less than 24 hours to start the tournament.
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Goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens picked up wins over Finland and Czechia, while Emerance Maschmeyer was in the net for the victory over Switzerland.
Heading into the final game of pool play, Kristin O’Neill leads Canada in scoring (two goals and four points) after a three-point game against Czechia where she scored two goals and assisted on Danielle Serdachny’s first-ever goal at the Women’s Worlds. Sarah Nurse and defender Ella Shelton have a goal and two assists each for second in team scoring.
Sluggish US Holds Off Finland
Kendall Coyne Schofield scored two goals to lead the United States to a 5-3 win over Finland on Saturday (April 6). Abbey Murphy, Hilary Knight, and Taylor Heise each had a goal and an assist to provide the rest of the offense. Aerin Frankel made nine saves.
While the US team killed off five penalties in the first half of Friday’s 6-0 shutout of Czechia, Finland scored first on Saturday and was tied at the first intermission on the strength of two power-play goals scored by Elisa Holopainen. With the game tied 2-2 entering the second period, Heise and Coyne Schofield scored at 7:42 and 11:40 to give the U.S. a cushion. But Sundelin made it a one-score game with a breakaway goal, beating Frankel with a deke going to her backhand. Coyne Schofield scored her second of the game 15 seconds into the third period to seal the win.
The US has a slight advantage going into Monday’s game, as Canada will be playing its second game in as many days. The United States has a 6-2-1-0 head-to-head record in preliminary play in the current two-pool format and has won five of the last seven meetings.
The Americans have four of the top six scorers in the tournament, led by Kendall Coyne Schofield, who has three goals and six points through three games. Forward Alex Carpenter is third in tournament scoring, with three goals and five points, and Hilary Knight and Caroline Harvey have recorded five points each.
In Canada, the much-anticipated game can be seen on TSN1/5 and streamed on TSN.ca and the TSN app. It can also be seen in the United States on the NHL Network.