USA, Canada to play for gold at 2026 Women’s World Championship

Nov 15, 2026, 16:24 EST

USA, Canada to play for gold at 2026 Women’s World Championship

Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

Tell me if you’ve heard this before … The United States and Canada will meet for a gold medal in major international women’s hockey tournament.

That is going to be the case once again on Monday in Denmark, as the two superpowers punched their tickets to the gold medal game at the 2026 IIHF Women’s World Championship with victories on Sunday. Even while there’s glimpses of some European nations closing the gap on the North American juggernauts, the Canadians and Americans continue to show that they are in a class of their own.

Let’s look back at what happened on Sunday, and which players shone in crucial games:

United States 5, Finland 0

By Tyler Kuehl

Even though they are perennial underdogs against the red, white and blue, Finland came out with probably its best efforts against the U.S. in a long time. They were going chance for chance against the defending world champions for the first half of the game, giving hope that they could keep things close. However, they weren’t able to sustain the pressure.

It didn’t help that the Americans’ veterans went to work early in the contest. Kelly Pannek scored her third goal of the tournament to open the scoring near the seven-minute mark of the first period, with Hilary Knight making a wicked play to set up Alex Carpenter for her fourth tally in Denmark, putting Team USA up by two at the end of the first.

Suomi had a couple of glorious chances on the power play in the second period, but after killing it off, the U.S. extended their lead with goals from Caroline Harvey and Lacey Eden just 34 seconds apart, giving their team full control of the contest. With Harvey’s goal, she broke her own record for scoring by a defender at the Women’s Worlds, totaling 15 points in just six games.

Knight got in on the scoring fun herself, notching her tournament-leading seventh goal, giving the Americans three goals just 95 seconds apart.

The U.S. was on cruise control, punching their ticket to the gold medal game for the 25th time.

Sanni Ahola got the start for Finland, but was pulled after the second period, allowing five goals on 25 shots. Emilia Kyrkko made nine saves in relief. Aerin Frankel posted her second shutout of the tournament with a 17-save effort.

United States

#21 Hilary Knight, F (Detroit Clutch): Remember how, with each passing year, we think Knight is going to take such a step back that she’s going to hang up her skates? Then she just comes out and has an incredible performance at the Women’s Worlds or PWHL, silencing any critics. That’s exactly what she’s been doing in Denmark. The play she made to create the opportunity for Carpenter, before finding the back of the net herself, shows just how good she still is, and that she has a lot left in the tank.

New York RangersTeam Cap Summary

Cap Summary

2026-27

2027-28

Projected Cap Hit

$105,792,292

$81,217,857

Projected Cap Space

-$1,792,292

$32,282,143

Current Cap Space

$2,948,228

$32,282,143

Active Players

23/23

14/23

Draft Picks

Round

'27

'28

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#22 Tessa Janecke, F (Vegas Vanguards): We’re seeing what happens when Janecke plays up in the lineup. She didn’t see as much time with Knight and Carpenter at the Olympics, but the trio has connected well in this tournament, as they did at the 2025 WWC. Janecke picked up a couple of helpers against Finland, further proving that she can help out the top players in the game.

Finland

#24 Viivi Vainikka, F (Minnesota Frost): For the first half of the game, I was thoroughly impressed by Finland’s effort. The big names all created numerous scoring chances, but struggled to beat Frankel. Vainikka was right there at the forefront of the attack, opening up opportunities for her teammates, while coming close to scoring a goal herself. Even though Finland came up short of the upset, one of the nation’s top scoring threats had another solid performance.

#15 Emmi Juusela, F: Juusela is a name that people should start to get familiar with. After dominating the Auroraliga for the last couple of years, the 23-year-old made the jump to the SDHL, which seemingly helped her earned a spot on the national team for the first time in her career. She was very noticeable in the attack on Sunday, posting five points in five games, finishing tied for second in team scoring.

Canada 3, Sweden 0

By Hunter Crowther

The Canadians wasted no time in pepping shots on Swedish goalie Ebba Svensson Traff, who faced 12 shots in the opening frame but stopped each of them to keep the first period scoreless. The Swedes were outshot by Canada 12-5 after 20.

Near the midway point of the second period, Swedish defender and Toronto Sceptres defender Sara Hjalmarsson took a tripping penalty. Canada wasted no time as Sarah Fillier scored her fourth of the tournament just nine seconds into the power play to make it 1-0.

Minutes later, Sarah Wozniewicz took a long feed from Nicole Gosling that looked more like a receiver taking a deep pass from the quarterback, and she deked out the Swedish netminder to make it 2-0.

Canada sealed it in the third after Emma Maltais scored on a breakaway to make it 3-0, which proved to be the final score. They outshot Sweden 30-13, who could only muster eight total shots in the second and third periods, combined – and Canada’s Ann-Renee Desbiens earned the shutout to get the win.

Canada

#10 Sarah Fillier, F (New York Sirens): After missing the first two games of the tournament, Fillier has scored in all four of her World Championship appearances, which includes the opening goal in Sunday’s semifinal. She helped drive the offense for Canada and helped hem the Swedes in their end for most of the game.

#9 Jessie Eldridge, F (Montreal Victoire): She fed Fillier the pass on the power play before she scored, but she was near the top in ice time among Canadian forwards and generated a few scoring opportunities of her own. While she leads all Canadians in points in the tournament, Sunday allowed her to shine away from the puck.

Sweden

#7 Mira Jungaker, D (The Ohio State University): It was a difficult night to be a defender on the losing end of a one-sided affair, but someone must do it, and Jungaker did her best. She had a game-high 25:49 of ice time was only on the ice for one goal against.

#1 Ebba Svensson Traff, G: As with Jungaker, somebody has to step up in a one-sided affair, and that’s what Traff did, stopping 27 of 30 shots and keeping it scoreless through the first half of the game. For someone coming off a three-game winning streak and shutouts in her last two appearances, Traff held her own in a crushing defeat.

Tale of the Championship Tape

Gold Medal Game

In the first 24 editions of the WWC, Canada and the U.S. have met in the gold medal game 23 times. The only exception came in 2019. In fact, if you include the Winter Olympics, Team USA and Canada have faced off in the championship game of a best-on-best tournament on 30 occasions. Canada is 13-10 against the Americans in Women’s Worlds finals, and is 17-13 in gold medal games against their southern rivals, including the Olympics.

However, the tide has turned in favor of the United States. Outside of a loss during a pre-tournament game last month, the U.S. has dominated the rivalry over the past 18 months. Starting with a pair of wins at the 2025 WWC, the Americans won eight straight matchups with the Canadians, including a few blowout wins during the 2025 Rivalry Series and the Winter Olympics. Yet, as we saw in the Olympic final in Milan, when the chips are down, Canada comes to play.

Despite wins in 10 of the past 12 meetings, the U.S. trails Canada, all-time, with Canada holding a 107-89-1 record against Team USA dating back to 1987.

Bronze Medal Game

In the earlier game on Monday, Scandinavian rivals will battle it out for hardware. Sweden, trying to win its first medal of any kind at a major international tournament since 2007, is playing confident hockey at the right time. Finland, the tournament leader with 15 bronze medals, is seeking a third consecutive podium finish at the WWC. However, Damkronoma has the advantage heading into Monday, having beaten the Finns 4-1 in the preliminary round.

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