Hockey·ROUNDUP
Jennifer Gardiner and Sarah Fillier each scored twice for Canada in a 9-1 quarterfinal win over Japan at the women’s world hockey championship Thursday.
United States cruises past Germany 3-0; Finland outlasts Sweden 3-2The Canadian Press
· Posted: Apr 17, 2025 8:20 AM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hour ago
Canada’s Daryl Watts, right, takes a shot during the team’s 9-1 win over Japan in the quarterfinals of the women’s hockey world championship in the Czech Republic on Thursday. (Petr David Josek/The Associated Press)Jennifer Gardiner and Sarah Fillier each scored twice for Canada in a 9-1 quarterfinal win over Japan at the women’s world hockey championship Thursday.
Claire Thompson had a goal and two assists.
Julia Gosling, Emily Clark, Ella Shelton and Sophie Jaques also scored and Renata Fast had three assists for the defending champions.
Kristin Campbell stopped five of six shots for her third win of the tournament.
Mei Miura scored Japan’s first goal against Canada in nine meetings, while goalie Miyuu Masuhara was a workhorse stopping 53 shots.
Canada faces last year’s bronze medallist Finland and the U.S. meets host Czech Republic in Saturday’s semifinals. The medal games are Sunday.
WATCH | Canada thrashes Japan in women’s hockey worlds quarterfinal:
Gardiner, Fillier lead Canada to semifinals at women’s hockey worlds with dominating win over Japan
Canada defeats Japan 9-1 in the quarterfinals of the women’s world hockey championship. Jennifer Gardiner scores twice and leads the tournament with five goals, while Sarah Fillier also notches a pair.
The Canadians blanked Finland 5-0 to open the tournament with Campbell posting a 24-save shutout.
Czech Republic thumped Switzerland 7-0, the United States blanked Germany 3-0 and the Finns got by Sweden 3-2 in Thursday’s earlier quarterfinals.
Canadian captain Marie-Philip Poulin’s assist on Gosling’s goal was the 86th point of her career in world championships, which tied Hayley Wickenheiser’s Canadian record.
Poulin was also the fourth player to reach 200 career games for Canada after Wickenheiser, Jayna Hefford and current Canadian assistant coach Caroline Ouellette.
Gardiner scored her tournament-leading fifth, Fillier her second of the game, Clark her first of the tournament and Jaques her second all in the third period.
Miura scored Japan’s first goal against Canada at the midpoint of the second period.
Canadian head coach Troy Ryan stirred his forward lines during the game with Daryl Watts drawing in for Gardiner with Poulin and Laura Stacey, Natalie Spooner joining Fillier and Sarah Nurse and Gardiner matched with Kristin O’Neill and Emma Maltais.
Gardiner zipped into the offensive zone and picked the top far corner of Japan’s net at 16:38 of the first period.
Thompson’s first world championship goal at 13:42 came in her 50th career game for Canada, although her two goals and 11 assists in Beijing’s 2022 Olympic Games was a tournament record by a defender.
The Japanese were minus one of their top players. Former PWHL Ottawa Charge forward Akane Shiga injured her left knee in her team’s preliminary-round finale against Germany and was removed from the ice on a stretcher.
Canadian forward Danielle Serdachny, defender Micah Zandee-Hart and goaltender Ann-Renee Desbiens didn’t didn’t dress for the quarterfinal.
Czech Republic 7, Switzerland 0Natálie Mlýnková scored a hat trick as the Czech Republic produced a five-goal opening period en route to a 7-0 rout of Switzerland and a fourth straight semifinal appearance.
Mlýnková scored two power-play goals and added another short-handed. Tereza Vanisova and Kristýna Kaltounková each had a goal and two assists, and Daniela Pejšová, and Denisa Křížová also scored for the Czechs, who claimed bronze in two of the previous three years of the championship.
Klara Peslarova stopped 14 shots for her shutout.
Finland 3, Sweden 2Finland became the first team to reach the semifinals at the women’s ice hockey world championship by beating Sweden 3-2 on Thursday in Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic.
Sweden answered through goals from Ebba Hedqvist and Josefin Bouveng in the second.
Susanna Tapani gave the Finns the lead for good with 8:14 remaining in the frame.
The Swedes have to settle for the fifth-place game on Saturday.
Finland’s Sanni Ahola, centre, celebrates with teammates after winning the quarterfinal match between Finland and Sweden at the women’s world hockey championships in Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic, on Thursday. (Petr David Josek/The Associated Press)U.S. 3, Germany 0The United States cruised past Germany 3-0 to reach the semifinals.
Goalie Aerin Frankel shut out the Germans with 12 saves. Germany last scored against the U.S. at the worlds in 2008.
“Today was an important game, we battled and continued to fight,” U.S. head coach John Wroblewski said. “Germany is a tough, physical team and we stuck to our game and got the win.”
Pannek one-timed a shot from the left circle for her third goal at the tournament 5:36 into the quarterfinal. Eden added the second midway through the opening period from the slot.
Carpenter scored from close range with 1:07 remaining in the second period.
The U.S. has reached the final in all 23 previous worlds and won 10 titles.
Later, the host Czech Republic faces Switzerland while defending champion Canada meets Japan at 2:30 p.m. ET.
With files from The Associated Press
