Canada’s undefeated streak at the Under-18 women’s world hockey championship was broken on Sunday in the gold-medal match against the United States. The Americans secured the gold with a 2-0 victory, with goals from Emily Pohl and Lindsay Stepnowski, and two assists from Talla Hansen. Goalkeeper Bianca Birrittieri made 38 saves for the shutout, while Lea-Rose Charrois stopped 25 shots for Canada.
Pohl opened the scoring for the U.S. at 14:08 of the first period, followed by Stepnowski extending the lead at 18:17 of the second period. In the bronze-medal final, the Czech Republic triumphed over Sweden with a 4-3 victory.
Canada excelled in the preliminary rounds, going 3-0 in Group A by defeating Switzerland 9-0, Hungary 14-0, and Sweden 9-2. They continued their dominance in the quarterfinals with a 12-0 win over Finland and secured a spot in the finals by beating the Czech Republic 8-1 in the semifinals.