Latest news with #WomensWorlds
New York Times
21-04-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
NHL playoff upsets coming? Plus, 3 questions about Team USA's World Championship win
Red Light newsletter 🏒 | This is the first edition of The Athletic's hockey newsletter. Sign up here to receive Red Light directly in your inbox. Good morning! We're two days into the playoffs, and five of the series have begun. Are you mad yet? You should probably be mad. Let's see if we can make that happen. Wait, you were sleeping? Unacceptable. It's Round 1 of the NHL playoffs — there's no time for sleeping. If you need some shut-eye, that's what Monday afternoon meetings are for. Other than that, keep your eyes open and your head on a swivel. Home teams hold serve 🏠 Yesterday's story, in one sentence: Three games, three big wins by home teams. Advertisement The day began with the Hurricanes hosting the Devils in an afternoon tilt. Carolina comes in as a big favorite, but with a recent history of falling short of expectations in the postseason and the sting of the Mikko Rantanen saga still on its mind. The Hurricanes looked good in the opener, pouring 45 shots on the Devils on the way to an impressive 4-1 win. Speaking of playoff underachievement, we all know the history in Toronto. But for one night at least, it all came together for the Maple Leafs in a series-opening win over the Senators. The big stars scored, the power play clicked, their goaltending was better and it all added up to a 6-2 win. Now the young Senators have to shake off a tough start and figure out how to fight back without taking penalties. MITCH MARNER, THAT WAS DISGUSTING! 🤢 #StanleyCup 🇺🇸: @espn ➡️ @Sportsnet or stream on Sportsnet+ ➡️ — NHL (@NHL) April 20, 2025 The late game saw the Golden Knights hold on to win a close one over the Wild. It was essentially a one-goal win, although a buzzer-beating empty netter made it a 4-2 final. The Wild stayed in it against a heavy favorite, but moral victories only go so far in the playoffs. Add it all up, and with the only road win coming from the stacked Avalanche over a decimated Stars team, you could argue we haven't seen an upset yet. With four games tonight, it shouldn't take us long to get there. Team USA captures gold in OT One thing missing from the NHL playoffs so far: the drama of sudden-death overtime. Luckily, yesterday's Women's World Championship gold medal game was there to provide the OT magic we were missing. Although it's fair to say American fans probably enjoyed it a lot more than Canadians did. The golden goal by Tessa Janecke! 🔥🇺🇸🥇 #WomensWorlds #IIHF @usahockey — IIHF (@IIHFHockey) April 20, 2025 That's Tessa Janecke burying the biggest goal of her life to give Team USA the gold. Our own Hailey Salvian was on the scene in Czechia to cover the tournament, and she took the time to answer a few questions for Red Light readers. Was there any point in the game — or even the tournament — when you had any doubt Team Canada and Team USA would end up deciding gold in overtime? 💬 For the 52 seconds Team USA had a 2-0 lead in the second period, I thought, 'Oh, this might be over' and 'maybe I can start writing my postgame story.' Advertisement That was very stupid of me. Because 52 seconds after Abbey Murphy gave the U.S. that lead, Danielle Serdachny cut it in half. Not even one minute later, Jennifer Gardiner tied it 2-2. That's typical of this rivalry, though. Any way you might think a game is going to go, you're probably wrong! As dramatic as the ending was, the goal also had a bit of a stench to it. What exactly happened in Canada's end to lead to Janecke's winner? 💬 For Canada, it started with a questionable line change, with Sarah Fillier heading off and Jocelyne Larocque holding the puck behind the crease. Janecke went hard on the forecheck against Larocque and disrupted her breakout pass, which was pretty easily intercepted by Taylor Heise. She made the shot-pass to find Janecke back door, and there you have it. We nearly saw an upset in the semifinal, when Team USA needed a comeback to earn a 2-1 win over Czechia. How important is that for the Czechia program, and how close are they to disrupting the USA/Canada stranglehold on gold medals? 💬 They're getting close. At least head coach Carla MacLeod said so in this incredible postgame speech after that semifinal loss. Czechia has a lot of talent on the roster. Kristýna Kaltounková was a top-10 finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Award, given to the best player in women's college hockey, this season. Tereza Vanišová is among the top scorers in the PWHL. Tereza Plosová, who scored the opening goal against the U.S., is headed to the University of Minnesota and will only get better in the NCAA. But what makes the state of the women's game so exciting is that while Czechia gave the eventual champions a scare, they didn't even medal at this tournament. Finland beat them 4-3 in overtime earlier on Sunday, setting up a pretty solid top-four nations (and some rivalries) heading into the Milan Olympics, which are somehow only 10 months away. I should also mention: Czechia was an unbelievable host nation and set a record for the most fans ever at a Women's World Championship (122,331), passing the 2007 tournament hosted by Winnipeg. 🏒 'I was a die-hard Avalanche fan as a kid.' Pierre LeBrun sits down with Matt Duchene to discuss the emotions involved in facing his former team. 🥅 Uh oh, Andrei Vasilevskiy might be (very) good again. ❓ What kind of an NHL GM spends time thinking about robot submarines? A winning one, as it turns out. James Mirtle spent time with Ivy League outsider turned Hurricanes GM Eric Tulsky. 📢 The crew at 'The Athletic Hockey Show' discussed how the Avs look like true Cup contenders and reacted to listener voicemails from the Playoff Crisis Line. 📺 Canadiens @ Capitals 7 p.m. ET on ESPN / SN On paper, this is the biggest David vs. Goliath matchup of the first round. Now we find out if the Habs are just happy to be there or if they can shock the top seed. An upset win in the opener would go a long way to changing perceptions. 📺 Blues @ Jets 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2 / CBC The underdog Blues had the Jets on the ropes in Game 1, but a late Winnipeg comeback sealed a win. Now we wait to see if that was a case of the Jets taking the Blues' best shot and shaking it off, or if St. Louis has shown it can hang with the Presidents' Trophy winners. Advertisement 📺 Avalanche @ Stars 9:30 p.m. ET on ESPN / SN360 Is it too early to call this a must-win for Dallas? Maybe, but after the Avalanche rolled to a Game 1 win, the Stars are now on an eight-game losing streak counting back to the regular season. If they head to Colorado down 2-0 in the series, they may not even make it back to Dallas for a Game 5. 📺 Oilers @ Kings 10 p.m. ET on ESPN2 / SN This is the fourth year in a row these teams have met in the first round, with the Oilers winning the previous three. But this time the Kings have home ice advantage to go with a league-best record on home ice. Will that matter? It should, but the Oilers can squash that narrative quickly with an early win. The full NHL playoff schedule is here. Try streaming games like these for free on Fubo. In celebration of the noble OGWAC Ah, the OGWAC — or for you newbies, the Old Guy Without a Cup. That's the beloved playoff archetype of the grizzled veteran who's done it all over the course of a long career, except win a ring. With time running out, we watch and wait to see if they can finally break through and get their lap with the Cup. When it happens, it's the best. Of course, sometimes the moment never comes. That was the case for Joe Pavelski, who retired last summer without ever getting his hands on the big trophy. His former Sharks teammate Joe Thornton played 24 seasons but never won it all. Neither did Jarome Iginla, or Marcel Dionne or Henrik Lundqvist. This year, as always, the playoffs start with plenty of potential OGWAC stories. So who are the best? You could go with the league's oldest skater, 40-year-old Blues defenseman Ryan Suter. Maybe you prefer Carolina's Brent Burns, the bearded 40-year-old who's been in the league since before there was a salary cap. Claude Giroux, 37, is trying to write an OGWAC story for his hometown team in Ottawa. Stars captain Jamie Benn, 35, might be on his way out in Dallas, while Jeff Skinner, 33 next month, is the rare OGWAC who's making his playoff debut. Advertisement There are so many candidates that it's impossible to rank them all. So of course I tried anyway, in my annual OGWAC rankings. With Pavelski retired, the top spot he'd held down for years is now up for grabs. It's not quite the biggest prize these guys are chasing right now, but it's probably a close second. 📫 Love Red Light? Check out The Athletic's other newsletters. Streaming links in this article are provided by partners of The Athletic. Restrictions may apply. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.
Yahoo
21-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
USA Wins Gold In Overtime Thriller, Canada Takes Silver
Tessa Janecke was the hero scoring with less than four minutes to go in overtime to lift USA to the 4-3 win, and gold at the 2025 World Championships. Janecke forced Joceylne Larocque who had control of the puck behind Canada's net on the forecheck. Larocque sent a weak pass up the boards which was picked off by Taylor Heise creating a 2-on-1 with Janecke opening up back door where Heise found her beating an outstretched Ann-Renee Desbiens. "Games between these two teams are always classics and tonight was no different," said John Wroblewski, head coach of Team USA "We had players up and down the lineup step up for us. It was a team effort I couldn't be prouder of them." At the other end of the ice Gwyneth Philips was spectacular stopping ten shots in overtime. She came into the game midway through the third period after Laura Stacey collided with Aerin Frankel sending Frankel to the bench, and forcing Philips, who played her first World Championship games with USA at this tournament into the crease with the game tied 2-2. Earlier in the game, the teams traded feverish goals with Caroline Harvey and Abbey Murphy giving USA a 2-0 lead only 29 seconds apart, before Canada answered back tying the game 1:47 later on goals by Danielle Serdachny and Jennifer Gardiner. After Frankel was injured, Taylor Heise gave USA the 3-2 lead on the ensuing 5-on-3 powerplay. Canada again answered to tie the game on a goal from Sarah Fillier. In overtime, Canada dominated the possession, but it was Janecke who gave USA the gold medal. Here's Tessa Janecke's overtime winner for Team amazing #WomensWorlds tournament. — Ian Kennedy (@IanKennedyCK) April 20, 2025 While USA took gold, Canada's Marie-Philip Poulin was named tournament MVP. She led the tournament with 12 points in seven games and became Canada's all-time leading scorer in the process. USA's Aerin Frankel was named Best Goaltender, while Caroline Harvey was named Best Defender. The media All-Star team was Klara Peslarova (Czechia), Renata Fast (Canada), Ronja Savolainen (Finland), Kristyna Kaltounkova (Czechia), Marie-Philip Poulin (Canada), and Kelly Pannek (USA).
NBC Sports
20-04-2025
- Sport
- NBC Sports
U.S. edges Canada in women's hockey world championship final in overtime classic
Tessa Janecke lifted the U.S. to the women's hockey world title over rival Canada, scoring the golden goal in a three-on-three overtime period. Janecke scored 17 minutes into the 20-minute period for a 4-3 win in Czechia on Sunday. The golden goal by Tessa Janecke! 🔥🇺🇸🥇 #WomensWorlds #IIHF @usahockey Nine of the last 14 finals between the U.S. and Canada have gone to overtime between the Olympics and World Championships dating to 2011. Either the U.S. or Canada has won all 24 world titles. The rivals met in the final in 23 of the 24 editions dating to the first worlds in 1990. In the third period Sunday, Canadian Sarah Fillier tied it at 3-3 with 5:48 left. That came nearly 10 minutes after a collision between U.S. goalie Aerin Frankel and Canadian forward Laura Stacey outside of the crease. Stacey was given a two-minute penalty for charging. Frankel was replaced by Gwyneth Philips, who all of a sudden was playing in an international knockout game for the first time. Laura Stacey entre SOLIDEMENT en collision avec la gardienne américaine Aerin Frankel ! 😯#ChampionnatduMondedeHockeyFéminin The U.S. goals in regulation came from Caroline Harvey, Abbey Murphy and Taylor Heise. The U.S. went 7-0 at worlds, going undefeated for the first time since 2019. Canada had won four of the previous five Olympic or world titles, its most dominant stretch in the rivalry since the 2000s. Now the U.S., with a world championship roster more than two years younger than Canada's, will look to reclaim the Olympic title next February. Canada won the 2022 Olympic final 3-2, after which the U.S. program underwent many changes. John Wroblewski succeeded Joel Johnson as head coach, and several young players ascended. Heise went from being cut from the 2022 Olympic team to MVP of the summer 2022 World Championship. Harvey went from being the youngest player on the 2022 Olympic team (and playing the least of the team's healthy skaters) to being named the best defender of the 2023 Worlds. Laila Edwards made her senior national team debut in November 2023 and was MVP of the 2024 World Championship. The goalie Frankel, who didn't make the 2022 Olympic team, started World Championship finals in 2023, 2024 and 2025. Janecke is the latest. The 20-year-old Penn State junior made her senior national team debut in December 2022. Nick Zaccardi,
New York Times
19-04-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
USA, Canada to face off in Women's World Championship gold medal game
ČESKÉ BUDĚJOVICE, Czechia — Team USA and Team Canada will play in the gold medal game of the 2025 IIHF Women's World Championship on Sunday. The rivals have faced off for gold at 23 of 24 women's world championships since the tournament began in 1990 — including last year's gold medal game, which Canada won 6-5 in overtime. This year's championship rematch was set after both teams won their semifinal games on Saturday night. Advertisement Team USA narrowly escaped elimination in the first semifinal of the day with a 2-1 win against Czechia. It was a physical, intense game — the best of the tournament thus far — with a stellar performance from Czech goalie Klára Peslarová, who made 43 saves in the loss. The host Czechia scored a stunning opening goal against the top-seeded Americans, who went 4-0 through the group stage. With less than five minutes remaining in the first period, U.S. defender Savannah Harmon turned the puck over deep in the U.S. zone, with goalie Aerin Frankel out of her crease. Czech forward Tereza Plosová — a top commit to the University of Minnesota — waited for a diving Lacey Eden to go by, and chipped the puck over Frankel for the opening goal of the game. Terka Plosová nekompromisně! V semifinále vedeme! 🚀 🇺🇸⚔️🇨🇿 0:1#narodnitymzen #WomensWorlds — Hokejová reprezentace žen (@narodnitymzen) April 19, 2025 Czechia held the 1-0 lead until late in the second period, when Laila Edwards scored a power play goal — her first of the tournament — to draw the game even. Kelly Pannek gave the U.S. its first lead in the third period with her team-leading fourth goal of the tournament, which would ultimately be the game-winner. For most of the game, the 5,859 fans inside Budvar Arena were clapping, chanting and on their feet for the home team. It was the fifth-straight sellout for Czechia during a record-breaking tournament. With over 100,000 fans in attendance heading into the final day of the tournament, 2025 worlds has been the best-attended tournament hosted outside North America. 'It was just an amazing showing by the Czech players, not only those on the ice, but (the fans) in the arena,' said U.S. coach John Wroblewski after the game. 'They had so much energy. Every loose puck meant the world to them, every blocked shot meant everything to them. And I just have so much respect for how the Czechs played. And so with that, I've got so much respect for the way that our team got the victory, because that was a really tough game to play.' Advertisement Team Canada, on the other hand, beat Finland 8-1 in the second semifinal of the day. But it was Finland's Michelle Karvinen who opened the scoring just 45 seconds into the game. On Tuesday, Karvinen, 35, became the highest scoring Finnish player at women's worlds, passing Hockey Hall of Fame inductee Riikka Sallinen. The game was tied less than two minutes later after Erin Ambrose buried a rebound on Finnish goalie Emilia Kyrkkö. Then, Marie-Philip Poulin gave Canada a 2-1 lead with a historic goal to pass Hayley Wickenheiser as Canada's all-time leading scorer at women's worlds. Un but qui permet à @pou29 de fracasser un record! 👏🚨 A record-breaking goal for Marie-Philip Poulin! 👏🚨#WomensWorlds | #MondialFé — Hockey Canada (@HockeyCanada) April 19, 2025 The game stayed close until Canada scored four goals in the final three minutes of the second period to go up 6-1. Daryl Watts scored twice during that sequence, while Emily Clark and Danielle Serdachny put things well out of reach. Claire Thompson and Sarah Nurse added more goals in the third. Ann-Renée Desbiens made 19 saves in the win, her 22nd all-time at women's worlds, which broke Florence Schelling's career wins record. Finland and Czechia will (once again) play for bronze on Sunday afternoon (8 a.m. ET). Finland beat Czechia 3-2 in a shootout for bronze at last year's tournament, and again 4-2 just last week during the group stage. Czechia will look to get back on the podium for the first time since winning back-to-back bronze medals in 2022 and 2023 — this time in front of a home crowd. USA and Canada will play the tournament's final game on Sunday (noon ET). Team USA beat Canada in their preliminary round match 2-1, but preliminary success is not always telling of what's to come in a gold medal match. For the last three years, the winner of the group stage game has not won the world championship. Advertisement 'We learned a little bit about ourselves tonight, but I think we learned a little bit about them as well,' Canadian head coach Troy Ryan said after the April 13 game. 'Hopefully we can make the adjustments we need to make.' Team USA will enter the gold medal game as the No. 1 seed, feeling 'battle tested' after a tougher game than usual in the semifinals. 'There were times it felt like a Canada-USA game,' said Edwards. 'I'm glad we had that game, credit to Czechia for really bringing it.' A key issue for the Americans throughout the tournament has been scoring efficiency. On Saturday night, they only scored two goals on 45 shots. During the quarterfinals, they only scored three goals on 51 shots. There's something to be said about the strong goaltending in women's hockey, but the U.S. has only the fourth-best scoring rate (9.24 percent) in the tournament. 'At some point here, you'd hope the law of averages would start to work their way in,' said Wroblewski. 'It's astounding that we haven't scored more goals. I will say that.' After losing to Canada last year at worlds in Utica, one of Wroblewski's takeaways was that Team USA needed to show up in Czechia with 'the biggest, sturdiest and most mobile team' possible to negate how good Canada is. In focusing on the physical side of the game, Team USA has lost some of its offense, especially with skilled players like Kirsten Simms or Hannah Bilka either scratched or left off the roster entirely. Of course, scoring efficiency won't matter if the U.S. can grind out another 2-1 victory against Canada. And especially if starter Aerin Frankel continues her strong play, with a 0.75 goals against average. But it'll be easier said than done, attempting to beat Canada at their own game. Team USA has only beat Canada once over the last five major international competitions (2023 worlds). Canada enters the final as the reigning champs with the best offense in the tournament. No team has scored more goals (34) at a higher rate (14 percent). Not to mention, Poulin – who has scored more championship winning goals than any player ever – is healthy and leading the tournament in scoring (11). Watts, who has four goals and five points in her debut worlds, was given a five minute major and a game misconduct on Saturday night for an illegal hit to the head. If she were to get supplemental discipline, it would be a huge loss for Canada.
New York Times
19-04-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Marie-Philip Poulin passes Hayley Wickenheiser as Canada's all-time leading scorer at women's worlds
ČESKÉ BUDĚJOVICE, Czechia – Marie-Philip Poulin beat Hayley Wickenheiser's career points record at the IIHF Women's World Championship on Saturday night. With a goal in the first period of the semifinals against Finland, Poulin scored her 87th career point at women's worlds, making her the highest-scoring Canadian ever at the tournament. Poulin is now second all-time in tournament scoring behind U.S. forward Hilary Knight (119), who first broke Wickenheiser's record in 2022. Advertisement 'What can you say,' Canada's head coach Troy Ryan told The Athletic. 'She's the most special player I've ever coached. There's very few people that have the high skill level that she has and the ability to play under pressure that she can. It's just so consistent too, there's just never an off night when the stage is set.' Poulin — who made her worlds debut in 2009 — is playing in her 13th women's world championships. On Thursday night, in a 9-1 quarterfinals win against Japan, Poulin played her 200th game for the Canadian women's national team, just the fourth player to ever to hit that milestone behind Wickenheiser, Jayna Hefford and Caroline Ouellette. History made! Marie-Philip Poulin now stands as @hockeycanada's all-time leading scorer at the #WomensWorlds! 💥👑 #IIHF — IIHF (@IIHFHockey) April 19, 2025 Canada's captain might not care much for individual accomplishments, but this is yet another one in a career full of them. In over a decade on the national women's team, Poulin has emerged as not just a top Canadian athlete, but the best player in the world. She currently leads the 2025 women's worlds in scoring (10) through six games, and will likely be a major player in another gold medal showdown against the U.S. on Sunday. Last year, Poulin scored two goals in the championship game, a breathtaking 6-5 Canadian overtime win on U.S. soil. In 2022, she scored the game-winning goal at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, which was Poulin's third golden goal in four Olympic final appearances, becoming the only hockey player — male or female — to score in four straight gold medal games at the Olympics. 'She's one of a kind,' Canadian general manager Gina Kingsbury told The Athletic in January. 'And we're just so lucky she's Canadian.'
