Canada’s undefeated streak at the Under-18 women’s world hockey championship was broken on Sunday as they faced the United States in the gold-medal match. Emily Pohl and Lindsay Stepnowski scored for the Americans, with Talla Hansen contributing two assists in a 2-0 victory for the U.S. Goalkeeper Bianca Birrittieri made 38 saves to secure the shutout, while Lea-Rose Charrois stopped 25 shots for Canada.
Pohl opened the scoring for the U.S. at 14:08 in the first period, followed by Stepnowski extending the lead at 18:17 in the second period. In the bronze-medal final, the Czech Republic defeated Sweden 4-3.
Canada had a strong performance in the preliminary rounds, winning all three games in Group A by defeating Switzerland 9-0, Hungary 14-0, and Sweden 9-2. They continued their dominance in the knockout stages by beating Finland 12-0 in the quarterfinals and Czech Republic 8-1 in the semifinals.