2026 IIHF Women’s World Championship: Top standouts from Day 2

Nov 7, 2026, 16:16 EST

There may have only been two games on day two of the 2026 IIHF Women’s World Championship, but one of those contests generated the most drama and excitement we’ve seen so far in this year’s tournament.

Let’s look back at what happened in the two matchups on Saturday, and which players stood out:

Japan 2, Denmark 3 (Shootout)

One day after Denmark lost 4-1 to Finland in their opening game – giving up nearly 60 total shots and managing just six of their own – it looked like the host country would suffer another defeat on home ice to Japan Saturday.

Japanese forward Umeka Odaira scored twice in a first period that saw the ice heavily tilted against the Danes, as Japan outshot the home team 12-4.

Denmark’s Nikita Bergmann – who scored her country’s lone goal against Finland on Friday – buried her second of the tournament past Japanese goaltender Miyuu Masuhara to cut the deficit to one.

Both teams only managed a combined 10 shots in the third period, but with less than three minutes left in regulation, Danish forward Teresa Christensen scored to tie the game 2-2 and force overtime.

Neither team would score in OT, then Odaira and Denmark’s Nicoline Jensen exchanged shootout goals before Frederikke Foss buried one past Masuhara to give the Danes a 3-2 shootout win.

The shots were 32-15 in favor of Japan and the Danes have now been outshot 92-21 through their first two games of the tournament. But on Saturday, fans left the rink not thinking about the box score, but the moment their home team sealed the victory.

Japan

#91 Umeka Odaira, F: It may seem like an obvious choice, given she scored both of Japan’s goals and was the only skater to bury one past Nordstrom in the shootout, but the University of Maine commit was their strongest option at the faceoff dot, winning a team-leading 10 draws.

Denmark

#33 Emma-Sofie Nordstrom, G (Hamilton): She didn’t face nearly the same amount of shots she did the previous day, but after giving up two goals in the first, Nordstrom locked in and finished with 30 saves in a winning performance. She now carries a .924 save percentage into Monday’s game against Canada.

2 Germany, 0 Austria

Full recap coming…

Standings

Group A

1. USA (1-0-0-0), 3 points
2. Czechia (1-0-0-0), 3 points
3. Germany (1-0-0-0), 3 points
4. Switzerland (0-0-0-1), 0 points
5. Austria (0-0-0-2), 0 points

Group B

1. Canada (1-0-0-0), 3 points
2. Finland (1-0-0-0), 3 points
3. Denmark (0-1-0-1), 2 points
4. Japan (0-0-1-0), 1 point
5. Sweden (0-0-0-1), 0 points

Coming up…

Four games are on the schedule on Sunday, kicking off with the United States facing Germany (9 a.m. ET) and Finland going up against rival Sweden (9 a.m. ET). The later games will see Czechia take on Switzerland (1 p.m. ET), with a rested Canada facing off with Japan (1 p.m. ET).

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