Women's Hockey
In another thrilling edition of one of sports' great rivalries, Team USA defeated Canada 2-1 at the IIHF Women's World Hockey Championship. Canada had a glorious chance to tie with less than a minute remaining, but U.S. goalie Aerin Frankel made a fantastic save to give her team the victory.
Lee Stecklein and Megan Keller were the goalscorers for Team USA. Laura Stacey added a goal for Canada in the loss.
The United States improves to 3-0 at the IIHF Women's World Hockey Championship. Read more below.
GO FURTHER
USA defeats Canada in IIHF Women’s World Championship prelim matchup: Takeaways
Below are the Group A standings after the U.S. and Canada squared off.
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This year’s Canada-USA game is unique in that it’s not the final game of group play. Typically, rivalry night serves as a finale before the playoff rounds, but after today both teams will have one more preliminary-round game to play before the quarterfinals.
On Monday, Canada will play the tournament hosts, Czechia, at 1 p.m. ET. On Tuesday, Team USA will play Switzerland at 1 p.m.
Quarterfinal games will take place on Thursday, April 17, followed by the semifinals on Saturday, April 19. The bronze medal game will be on Sunday, April 20 at 8 a.m., followed by the gold medal game at noon.
One odd lineup decision was announced in the hours before the game: Kirsten Simms, one of the top young American forwards, would be a healthy scratch.
The 20-year-old winger was second in scoring in the NCAA last season and was the hero in the championship game for the Wisconsin Badgers, scoring on a penalty shot to tie the game with 18 seconds left, and then notching the game-winner in overtime. She’s one of the future faces of the American women’s national team, and scored the game-winner against Canada at last year’s preliminary round game.
Beyond Simms’ recent accomplishments, benching one of the top young players in the country is quite the departure from what we’ve seen from Wroblewski, who had been touted for the youth movement he brought to team USA when he was hired in June 2022.
In her first two games at worlds, Simms was on the fourth line with Britta Curl and Hayley Scamurra, and only played around 12 and nine minutes in each contest. Still, she managed to tally two assists before being taken out of the lineup.
With Simms’ usage paired with Laila Edwards’ move from an MVP forward to the blue line, it’s fair to wonder where young American players’ confidence might be as the tournament continues — and looking ahead to Milan 2026.
Canada struggled to generate much offense early in the game, with only six shots on goal — half of the U.S. shot generation (12) — in the first period.
The American forecheck, and defenders, made it difficult for Canada to set up deep in the American zone and sustain any significant offensive zone time. After the first period, Brianne Jenner was succinct when asked what they needed to do in the second period, saying “generate more offense.”
That was a work in progress in the second and third periods. Canada finally got on the board with Laura Stacey’s breakaway goal in the third period. And the Canadians had some good chances late in the game to force overtime, but couldn’t beat Frankel for a second time.
It’s notable to see the U.S. come out with such a strong forecheck after head coach John Wroblewski specifically called out Canada’s after losing in last year’s gold medal game.
“Canada was unbelievable in the trenches tonight,” he said. “They did an amazing job winning wall battles. I thought their defense made life extremely difficult on our young forwards.”
It’s clear to see that beefing up their own work “in the trenches” was a focus for Team USA heading into the tournament. And on Sunday, it worked.
Lee Stecklein was arguably the highlight of the U.S. roster when it was announced last month. The six-time world champion hadn’t played for Team USA since the 2023 World Championships in Brampton, Ont., after which she took time off from the U.S. women’s national team.
Since then, Stecklein had remained one of the very best defenders in the world for the Minnesota Frost in the Professional Women’s Hockey League and won the league’s first-ever Walter Cup championship in 2024.
She scored in Team USA’s opening game against Finland on Wednesday, and emotional in the locker room when she was given the team’s “player of the game robe.”
“I’m just really happy to be back with you all,” she said in the clip shared by USA Hockey.”
Below was Megan Keller's game-winning goal, which paved the way for Team USA's victory over Canada during the preliminary round of the IIHF Women's World Hockey Championship.
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Canada:
Ann-Renee Desbiens: 26 saves on 28 shots
United States:
Aerin Frankel: 18 saves on 19 shots
Team USA's Megan Keller and Canada's Blayre Turnbull were named the players of the game today.
Keller scored the game-winning goal for Team USA. Tunrbull played 9:14 TOI.
Shots:
Canada: 19
United States: 28
Saves:
Canada: 26
United States: 18
PIM:
Canada: 4
United States: 4
Canada with a great 6-on-5 look — Nurse set up Laura Stacey, but Frankel made another great save to keep USA ahead. A delayed penalty was called against Murphy, but the clock ran out before USA touched back up. Team USA takes this 2-1 as Megan Keller ends up with the game winner.
P3 0:00 – USA 2, Canada 1
Team USA holds on to beat Canada 2-1. Laura Stacey cut the deficit to one but it wasn't enough.
A great chance for Canada late but Aerin Frankel makes the wild save to give Team USA the victory.
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With the clock winding down, keep an eye on who else but Marie-Philip Poulin. She already her mark on this game on the Laura Stacey goal, but this tends to be her time to shine. No one plays spoiler more against the USA than Poulin late in games when Canada needs a tying or go-ahead goal. She is Captain Clutch for a reason.
Five minutes to go here between USA and Canada. Primerano getting some shifts for Canada, maybe to give them another offensive spark. The big question is whether we will see much of Edwards for USA, since these are key minutes to defend and she doesn’t have that same familiarity with the position.
P3 8:00 – USA 2, Canada 1
With eight minutes to go, Team USA hangs on to a 2-1 lead over Team Canada. Team USA currently outshooting Canada 8-4 in the third period.
Going to be a fascinating last few minutes of this game.
Canada finally breaks through — it’s Laura Stacey with the goal. She had one of the best chances of this game in the second period on the power play. This time, Marie-Philip Poulin sent the puck up the ice to spring Stacey for her second breakaway of the game, and this time she converts.
Good shift from Canada there in the offensive zone — Danielle Serdachny was a part of it. Maybe she will see more reps this period, because this team could use any offensive help it can get.
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P3 20:00 – USA 2, Canada 0
The third period begins in Czechia as Team USA leads by two over Canada.
With a win today, one of these teams will improve to 3-0 and remain unbeaten at this year's IIHF Women's World Hockey Championship.
Right now, it's looking like Team USA, which leads 2-0 over Canada through 40 minutes. But will there be a comeback in store in the final frame?
Through 40 minutes, the total shots on goal is 18 to 12 for Team USA. Like Brianne Jenner said in the first intermission, Canada is going to need more offense if it wants to make a comeback in the third period.