photo: Matt Zambonin/IIHF
Canada stormed out to a 5-0 lead in the first period and coasted to a 12-0 win over Finland in the last quarter-finals of the day in Sydney.
The win puts Canada in the semi-finals on Saturday against Czechia. Earlier that day, the Finns will be in unfamiliar territory. For the first time ever, they will be playing in the relegation game, against Hungary. They have never finished worse than 6th, but this year they’ll be either 7th or 8th. This is not what they expected ten days ago.
"Our game is going better and better every game," Finland coach Mira Kuisma promised. "The team spirit is incredible, but I don't know. In the first games, I don't know what happened on ice, because we couldn't score, and our defending was bad. Also my feeling at the moment is disappointment. Right now, I can't think about the relegation game."
"I thought we had a decent start," said Canada's coach, Vicky Sunohara. "We said that we had to have better starts. We haven't been starting the last few games well. We wanted to get pucks in deep. We want to play the way we feel that we need to play to be successful in this tournament. And sometimes, you know, teams will let us get away with some things that other teams won't. So we're continuing to focus on ourselves. I thought that there were some good things, but we need to be consistent for 60 minutes to be successful here."
Adrianna Milani led the way with four goals and is now second overall with eight goals. Goalie Rowan Houweling stopped ten shots for her second shutout of the tournament. Canada fired 67 shots at two Finland goalies during the dominant victory.
As well, Megan Mossey had four assistss and Laurie Aubin a goal and three helpers.
"I think we knew what we were getting," Milani said of the matchup with the Finns. "We played them in an exhibition game before the tournament started. I think just sticking to our habits and what we knew was going to make us successful was going to work."
Tonight, the Finns were out of the game quickly. Canada opened the scoring at 5:43 on a power play. Sofia Ismael started the play with an impressive burst of speed up ice, then got the puck to captain Hayley McDonald in the slot. She outwaited Saimi Pesola and beat her cleanly with a shot.
Two and a half minutes later, Rosalie Tremblay made it 2-0 and another 56 seconds later it was 3-0 on a bar down shot from Melani.
Pesola was the cause of her own demise a minute later. She failed to handle an easy shot, and Rachel Piggott simply pushed the loose puck in from the blue ice. Coach Mira Kuisma pulled Pesola in favour of Eerika Kujala, who had lost two of the team’s three games in the preliminary round.
No matter to the hosts. Canada kept the pressure on, and made it 5-0 at 17:06 through no fault of Kujala. She made the initial save off a Milani shot, but no one covered the Canadian and she got an even better chance with the rebound.
Finland’s best opportunity to score came early in the second on a Canada power play. Tuulianna Artti stole the puck and went in alone but blasted a shot high. The Finns had their best stretch of play in the first half of the second, skating with the Canadians, keeping them to the outside, and limiting shots and chances.
But Canada finally got its second wind and made it 6-0 midway through. Caileigh Tiller smacked a low point shot that was deftly redirected by Maddie McCullough in front at 10:14. Less than two minutes later, Ismael got her second of the night with a clever shot from a bad angle as Kujala moved off the near post.
Piggott added to Finland’s woes when she also banged in a loose puck from the crease. In the third, Canada scored two goals 34 seconds apart to reach double digits, the second coming off the stick of Milani to complete her second hat trick of the tournament.
And with the win, Canada is off to the semis and Czechia.
"Czechia has always been a physical team," Sunohara said of the team's next opponent. "They've always given us a tough time, so we're definitely not looking ahead. We're looking at Saturday's game against them, and we're going to have to stick to our habits, put pucks behind them, and use our speed, put pucks to the net. We have talented players, but you need to be able to battle and compete and play the right way to be successful."
The win puts Canada in the semi-finals on Saturday against Czechia. Earlier that day, the Finns will be in unfamiliar territory. For the first time ever, they will be playing in the relegation game, against Hungary. They have never finished worse than 6th, but this year they’ll be either 7th or 8th. This is not what they expected ten days ago.
"Our game is going better and better every game," Finland coach Mira Kuisma promised. "The team spirit is incredible, but I don't know. In the first games, I don't know what happened on ice, because we couldn't score, and our defending was bad. Also my feeling at the moment is disappointment. Right now, I can't think about the relegation game."
"I thought we had a decent start," said Canada's coach, Vicky Sunohara. "We said that we had to have better starts. We haven't been starting the last few games well. We wanted to get pucks in deep. We want to play the way we feel that we need to play to be successful in this tournament. And sometimes, you know, teams will let us get away with some things that other teams won't. So we're continuing to focus on ourselves. I thought that there were some good things, but we need to be consistent for 60 minutes to be successful here."
Adrianna Milani led the way with four goals and is now second overall with eight goals. Goalie Rowan Houweling stopped ten shots for her second shutout of the tournament. Canada fired 67 shots at two Finland goalies during the dominant victory.
As well, Megan Mossey had four assistss and Laurie Aubin a goal and three helpers.
"I think we knew what we were getting," Milani said of the matchup with the Finns. "We played them in an exhibition game before the tournament started. I think just sticking to our habits and what we knew was going to make us successful was going to work."
Tonight, the Finns were out of the game quickly. Canada opened the scoring at 5:43 on a power play. Sofia Ismael started the play with an impressive burst of speed up ice, then got the puck to captain Hayley McDonald in the slot. She outwaited Saimi Pesola and beat her cleanly with a shot.
Two and a half minutes later, Rosalie Tremblay made it 2-0 and another 56 seconds later it was 3-0 on a bar down shot from Melani.
Pesola was the cause of her own demise a minute later. She failed to handle an easy shot, and Rachel Piggott simply pushed the loose puck in from the blue ice. Coach Mira Kuisma pulled Pesola in favour of Eerika Kujala, who had lost two of the team’s three games in the preliminary round.
No matter to the hosts. Canada kept the pressure on, and made it 5-0 at 17:06 through no fault of Kujala. She made the initial save off a Milani shot, but no one covered the Canadian and she got an even better chance with the rebound.
Finland’s best opportunity to score came early in the second on a Canada power play. Tuulianna Artti stole the puck and went in alone but blasted a shot high. The Finns had their best stretch of play in the first half of the second, skating with the Canadians, keeping them to the outside, and limiting shots and chances.
But Canada finally got its second wind and made it 6-0 midway through. Caileigh Tiller smacked a low point shot that was deftly redirected by Maddie McCullough in front at 10:14. Less than two minutes later, Ismael got her second of the night with a clever shot from a bad angle as Kujala moved off the near post.
Piggott added to Finland’s woes when she also banged in a loose puck from the crease. In the third, Canada scored two goals 34 seconds apart to reach double digits, the second coming off the stick of Milani to complete her second hat trick of the tournament.
And with the win, Canada is off to the semis and Czechia.
"Czechia has always been a physical team," Sunohara said of the team's next opponent. "They've always given us a tough time, so we're definitely not looking ahead. We're looking at Saturday's game against them, and we're going to have to stick to our habits, put pucks behind them, and use our speed, put pucks to the net. We have talented players, but you need to be able to battle and compete and play the right way to be successful."
Quarter-finals #4: Canada vs Finland - 2026 IIHF U18 Women's Worlds Championship
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