Team Canada to play United States for gold at 2024 IIHF Women’s World Championship
Team Canada will once again play the rival United States in the gold medal game of the IIHF Women’s World Championship.
Canada secured a spot in Sunday’s championship match with a 4-0 win over Czechia in semifinal play on Saturday in Utica, N.Y. The United States, meanwhile, defeated Finland 5-0 earlier in the day to advance to the final.
Sunday’s gold medal game begins at 5 p.m. ET and will be broadcast by TSN.
Canada and the United States have met in all but one women’s worlds gold medal games since the tournament began in 1990 and this will be the fourth straight year the two have faced off in the championship match. Canada won in 2021 and 2022 but lost a heartbreaker on home ice last year. The Canadians will look to avenge that loss on Sunday while playing on American ice.
The Canadians and Americans rarely play boring games against one another and their lone meeting in this year’s preliminary round was no different. In a high tempo match, goaltenders Ann-Renée Desbiens and Aerin Frankel were both excellent before Kirsten Simms scored the overtime winner to give the US a 1-0 victory.
The loss to the Americans has been Canada’s lone blemish at this year’s tournament. Canada earned a spot in the quarterfinals following a 3-0-1 record in the preliminary round, picking up wins against Finland, Switzerland and Czechia. In Thursday’s quarterfinals, Renata Fast scored twice while Laura Stacey, Natalie Spooner and Jaime Bourbonnais also connected to lead Canada to a 5-1 victory over Sweden.
In Saturday’s semifinals, Blayre Turnbull, Jocelyne Larocque, Emily Clark and Sarah Fillier all scored to guide the Canadians past Czechia for a second time this tournament. Desbiens only faced nine shots in the shutout victory.
Canada led 2-0 after the first period and led 13-1 in shots. Just 4:32 in, Stacey found an open Turnbull in the slot to make it 1-0. Late in the frame, Stacey threw the puck through the crease where Larocque tapped in her first of the tournament to double the lead.
Clark made it 3-0 Canada 1:39 into the second period, poking a bouncing puck over fallen Czechia netminder Klára Peslarová. The Canadians continued to press throughout the middle frame, recording 14 shots, but could not add to their lead.
Canada’s top line of Fillier, Brianne Jenner and Marie-Philip Poulin has had a quiet tournament so far but got on the board in the third. 4:40 in, a Fillier shot beat Peslarová through the pads and slowly crossed the goal line to make it 4-0. Shortly after, Desbiens faced her toughest test of the game, stretching out to make a pad stop.
Czechia will play Finland in Sunday’s bronze medal game.