Women’s Worlds Day 5 Recap: Hilary Knight powers Team USA past Switzerland

Mike Gould
Mike Gould
Aug 30, 2022, 06:30 EDTUpdated: Aug 30, 2022, 04:37 EDT
Women’s Worlds Day 5 Recap: Hilary Knight powers Team USA past Switzerland

Star forward Hilary Knight scored twice on Day 5 of the 2022 IIHF Women’s World Championship to lift Team USA to a commanding 9–0 win over Team Switzerland.

Team USA improved to a perfect 3–0–0–0 record with the win, which set the stage for Tuesday’s heavyweight tilt against Team Canada (also undefeated).

The Americans outshot the Swiss 57–4 in the game, with Knight tying for the team lead with six attempts on Swiss netminders Saskia Maurer and Andrea Braendli.

Knight, 33, scored Team USA’s fifth and seventh goals on Monday. She’s now just four points away from setting a new record for the most career points in Women’s Worlds history.

Taylor Heise also scored twice against Team Switzerland. Hannah Bilka, Savannah Harmon, Cayla Barnes, Grace Zumwinkle, and Abby Roque rounded out the group of goal-scorers, while Maddie Rooney made four saves for the shutout.

Team USA features five of the tournament’s top seven scorers, with Heise sitting alone atop the leaderboard with eight points in three games. The Americans have already scored 25 goals and have allowed just one.

There’s a good chance they’ll allow at least one more goal in Tuesday’s marquee matchup with Team Canada. With 17 goals for and only two against in three games, the Canadians have been a mighty handful thus far.

Just remember … the last time Team USA and Team Canada squared off at the Women’s Worlds, this happened.

You won’t want to miss this.

Snap shots

  • Team Hungary is still alive! The plucky newcomers gave it their all against Team Sweden on Monday, controlling the shots on goal 42–39 but ultimately falling 3–2 in a shootout. In picking up a point in the loss, Team Hungary has officially avoided relegation and could even qualify for the knockout stage if Team Germany defeats Team Denmark in regulation on Tuesday. We’re just glad we’ll get the chance to see the Hungarians back at it again next year — they’ve been extremely competitive in this tournament, regularly outshooting their opponents and showing they belong.
  • It’s fitting that Blanka Skodova started in goal for Team Czechia on Monday, because she completely blanked her opponents. The Czechs cruised to a 6–0 win over Team Germany, with Skodova stopping all nine shots she faced to earn the shutout. We’ve already seen a lot of good things from 16-year-old Adela Sapovalivova in this tournament, and she continued her strong play with the game-winning goal against the Germans on Day 5.
  • Team Finland defeated Team Japan 9–3 on Monday, but the big story was both Shiga sisters scoring in the same game for the first time ever at the Women’s Worlds. Akane Shiga is a 21-year-old star forward who has lived up to all expectations at this year’s tournament, but Aoi Shiga is a 23-year-old defender who hadn’t scored a goal with Team Japan since the 2016 U18s. Well, Akane scored the first two goals for her team against the Finns before Aoi found the back of the net with 1:46 to play in the third period.

Day 5 Results

Team Finland 9, Team Japan 3

Team Germany 0, Team Czechia 6

Team USA 9, Team Switzerland 0

Team Hungary 2, Team Sweden 3 (SO)

Day 6 Schedule

Team Sweden vs. Team Czechia — 9:30 a.m. ET

Team Switzerland vs. Team Finland — 10:00 a.m. ET

Team Denmark vs. Team Germany — 1:30 p.m. ET

Team Canada vs. Team USA — 2:00 p.m. ET

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