Women’s Worlds: Quarterfinal matchups set after wild preliminary round
Team Canada will continue its title defense at the 2023 IIHF Women’s World Championship in a quarterfinal matchup against Team Sweden on Thursday.
It’ll be one of a packed slate of games at the CAA Centre in Brampton, Ont., which will host four quarterfinal contests in the span of a little over 12 hours.
The final three games of the preliminary round took place on Tuesday, with only one in Group A: Czechia vs. Switzerland, a critical matchup for standings placement leading into the knockout stages.
Czechia prevailed by a 5–2 score to clinch the No. 3 seed in Group A, shifting Switzerland down to the fourth position. Five different Czech players scored in the victory.
Curiously enough, the Czechs might have set themselves up for a slightly tougher test in the quarters: they’ll take on Finland (No. 1 in Group B) while Switzerland will face Japan (No. 5 in Group A).
It only took a three-goal first period for Czechia to essentially seal the deal against Switzerland on Tuesday, with Alena Mills capping it all off with a minute left for the eventual game-winner.
🚨Czechia strikes again!
Alena Mills spots the loose puck and fires it home!
3 unanswered goals as they dominate @swissicehockey
Czechia leads 3-0 #WomensWorlds #CZESUI pic.twitter.com/vTfecp2Ttb
After being outshot 28–6 (and outscored 4–0) in the first 40 minutes, Switzerland attempted to stage a comeback in the third period.
The Swiss controlled the shots by a 9–7 margin and put a couple of goals past Czech keeper Blanka Skodova, with the usual suspects coming to play.
Lara Stalder. Alina Muller. Both Swiss stars found the back of the net in the final 20 minutes of Switzerland’s round-robin action.
The end result: a 5–2 loss. But perhaps the Swiss’ strong third period will help propel them past Team Japan on Thursday …
🇨🇭 @swissicehockey 's Alina Muller picks up her own rebound and sends it home! @narodnitymzen continues to lead 5-2 #WomensWorlds #CZESUI pic.twitter.com/TkmxLwdq1Y
— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) April 12, 2023Quick hits
- Team Germany continued its strong Group B showing with a close 2–1 win over Team Hungary on Tuesday. Although the Hungarians controlled the shots 37–26 (including 24–8 after the first period) and gave it their all in an attempt to battle back from a 2–0 deficit, German goaltender Sandra Arbstreiter successfully held the fort to set up her side for a quarterfinal matchup against Team USA. Nicola Eisenschmid scored the game-winning goal in the final minute of the first period.
GERMANY IS MAKING A STATEMENT! @deb_teams 's Nicola Eisenschmid gets in low and buries it home!
Germany leads 2-0 against @hockeyhungary #WomensWorlds #HUNGER pic.twitter.com/eDl9Jjrj3j
- Team Sweden scored eight consecutive goals to kick off its matchup with Team France on Tuesday. Although the French eventually responded with a pair of their own midway through the third period, it wasn’t nearly enough as the Swedes cruised to a commanding 8–2 victory. After being promoted from Division IA for the 2023 tournament, France was outscored 29–5 in four games and will return to the lower level in 2024. Meanwhile, Sweden has a pretty big opponent coming up: Team Canada. They could sure use another four-goal outing from Hanna Olsson in that one …
That's 4 goals on the game for Hanna Olsson! #WomensWorlds pic.twitter.com/lspXv60JVi
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) April 11, 2023Tuesday’s results
Team Hungary 1, Team Germany 2
Team Sweden 8, Team France 2
Team Czechia 5, Team Switzerland 2
Thursday’s games
Team Czechia vs. Team Finland — 10:00 a.m. ET
Team USA vs. Team Germany — 1:30 p.m. ET
Team Canada vs. Team Sweden — 5:00 p.m. ET
Team Switzerland vs. Team Japan — 8:30 p.m. ET
All games at CAA Centre in Brampton, Ont.