Canada’s undefeated streak in the Under-18 women’s world hockey championship was broken on Sunday in the gold-medal match against the United States. The Americans clinched the gold with a 2-0 victory, with goals from Emily Pohl and Lindsay Stepnowski, assisted by Talla Hansen. 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 of the first period, followed by Stepnowski extending the lead at 18:17 of the second period. In the bronze-medal final, the Czech Republic defeated Sweden 4-3.
Canada dominated in the preliminary round of Group A, winning all three games against Switzerland (9-0), Hungary (14-0), and Sweden (9-2). They continued their winning streak by defeating Finland 12-0 in the quarterfinals and Czech Republic 8-1 in the semifinals.