Canada beat Finland, 3-1, in exhibition play last Saturday. The last time they faced each other was August 2022 in the preliminary round of the 2022 Women's Worlds.
photo: Matt Zambonin / IIHF
As the ten teams make their way to Brampton, Ontario for the 22nd IIHF Women’s World Championship, most played a game or two to prepare for the start of the real games. Only the Americans decided not to play an exhibition game at all, electing instead to hold a larger training camp, announcing their roster only last Saturday, and playing scrimmages within the team. Half of the teams played two games, using the lead-in days to get used to the Canadian-size ice surface. Whether this means something or not remains to be seen, but all seven friendly tilts were low scoring.
Here’s what happened in the days leading up to the first games of the tournament on Wednesday.
March 29/France 4-University of Toronto 3 (OT), Varsity Arena, Toronto
The venerable home of the U of T, Varsity Arena opened in 1926 and has hosted many memorable university games as well as games in the WHA’s early days. On this night, the newly-promoted Frenchwomen played a U of T aggregate, winning 3-2 in regulation. For practise, they then played an overtime period, each team scoring once. Chloe Aurard, the star of the team who played alongside Alina Muller at Northeastern, scored twice for France.
March 31/Hungary 4-Japan 3 (PSS), Canlan Sports, North York
Hungary rallied for a 4-3 win over Hungary in a penalty-shot shootout. The teams had played only once before in WW competition (a 4-1 Japan win in 2021), and this warmup was a good test for both teams in a game that went back and forth. Mei Miura scored early to stake Japan to the lead, but Hungary scored twice before Akane Hosoyamada responded to make it 2-2 in a free-flowing first period. Fanni Gasparics’s second-period goal looked like it might have been the winner, but with only 1:43 remaining in regulation the Japanese tied it, 3-3. Overtime settled nothing, and the shootout went ten rounds before Kinga Jokai-Szilagyi scored the winner.
March 31/Switzerland 2-Germany 0, Sadlon Arena, Barrie
This game was the culmination of several days of training in Barrie for both teams. Laura Zimmermann assisted on both goals in the quiet Swiss win. They got one goal early in the first from 18-year-old Alina Marti, who will be playing in her third WW despite her youth, and another in the third from Sinja Leemann. Andrea Brandli, who has been the team’s number-one goalie since the retirement of Florence Schelling after the 2018 Olympics, earned the shutout by stopping 16 shots.
April 1/Canada 3-Finland 1, Gale Centre, Niagara Falls
Teams went a combined 0-for-8 on the power play in a tepid game that saw only 42 total shots. Four goalies saw action as both coaches wanted to give their puckstoppers some prep prior to Wednesday’s opener. Brianne Jenner opened the scoring just past the midway mark of the game. The only other scoring came during a six-minute burst in the third. Emily Clark made it 2-0 before Emilia Vesa cut the lead in half, but Canada’s captain, Marie-Philip Poulin, re-established their two-goal lead. That’s how the game ended. Captain Jenni Hiirikoski was in the lineup, which was heartening to see after she suffered a scary cut to her neck in Swedish-league play a couple of weeks ago. She will extend her record in Brampton by appearing in her 15th Women’s Worlds.
April 2/Sweden 1-Switzerland 0, Aurora Community Centre, Aurora
Emma Soderberg stopped all 18 shots to lead the Swedes to a 1-0 win in their only exhibition game. The loss came a day after the Swiss beat Germany by a shutout. The only goal of the game came from Hilda Svensson at 10:36 of the second period in a tight game that featured seven power plays. Soderberg has assumed the starter’s role with the underdog Swedes, starting ten games combined in 2022 at the Olympics and Women’s Worlds and making a case to continue in her role as the number-one ‘tender in Brampton.
April 2/Japan 2-France 1, Port Credit Memorial Arena, Mississauga
The Japanese continued their fine play with a narrow win over France. Goalie Riko Kawaguchi, who played only briefly in the 2022 WW, went the full 60 minutes and stopped 31 of 32 shots for the win. Makoto Ito was the offensive hero, scoring the winning goal with only 2:33 remaining in regulation. Japan had scored the lone goal of the first 40 minutes, only to see Clara Rozier tie the game midway through the third. Japan will have to continue its strong play in the tournament as it will be playing in Group A for the first time since the vertical format was introduced in 2012. Their current achievement came thanks to their 1-0 win over Finland in the 5th-place game last year in Herning, Denmark.
April 2/Germany 1-Hungary 0, Canlan Sports, North York
In a game that replicated the Sweden-Switzerland game earlier in the day, only a second-period goal dented an otherwise blank scoresheet. Thirty-year-old Sonja Weidenfelder, who has played at the two most recent Women’s Worlds, scored that lone goal midway through the game. Sandra Abstreiter stopped all 28 shots for the shutout win while Hungary used both goalies. Aniko Nemeth was perfect in her appearance while Zsuzsa Revesz allowed Weidenfelder's goal.
Here’s what happened in the days leading up to the first games of the tournament on Wednesday.
March 29/France 4-University of Toronto 3 (OT), Varsity Arena, Toronto
The venerable home of the U of T, Varsity Arena opened in 1926 and has hosted many memorable university games as well as games in the WHA’s early days. On this night, the newly-promoted Frenchwomen played a U of T aggregate, winning 3-2 in regulation. For practise, they then played an overtime period, each team scoring once. Chloe Aurard, the star of the team who played alongside Alina Muller at Northeastern, scored twice for France.
March 31/Hungary 4-Japan 3 (PSS), Canlan Sports, North York
Hungary rallied for a 4-3 win over Hungary in a penalty-shot shootout. The teams had played only once before in WW competition (a 4-1 Japan win in 2021), and this warmup was a good test for both teams in a game that went back and forth. Mei Miura scored early to stake Japan to the lead, but Hungary scored twice before Akane Hosoyamada responded to make it 2-2 in a free-flowing first period. Fanni Gasparics’s second-period goal looked like it might have been the winner, but with only 1:43 remaining in regulation the Japanese tied it, 3-3. Overtime settled nothing, and the shootout went ten rounds before Kinga Jokai-Szilagyi scored the winner.
March 31/Switzerland 2-Germany 0, Sadlon Arena, Barrie
This game was the culmination of several days of training in Barrie for both teams. Laura Zimmermann assisted on both goals in the quiet Swiss win. They got one goal early in the first from 18-year-old Alina Marti, who will be playing in her third WW despite her youth, and another in the third from Sinja Leemann. Andrea Brandli, who has been the team’s number-one goalie since the retirement of Florence Schelling after the 2018 Olympics, earned the shutout by stopping 16 shots.
April 1/Canada 3-Finland 1, Gale Centre, Niagara Falls
Teams went a combined 0-for-8 on the power play in a tepid game that saw only 42 total shots. Four goalies saw action as both coaches wanted to give their puckstoppers some prep prior to Wednesday’s opener. Brianne Jenner opened the scoring just past the midway mark of the game. The only other scoring came during a six-minute burst in the third. Emily Clark made it 2-0 before Emilia Vesa cut the lead in half, but Canada’s captain, Marie-Philip Poulin, re-established their two-goal lead. That’s how the game ended. Captain Jenni Hiirikoski was in the lineup, which was heartening to see after she suffered a scary cut to her neck in Swedish-league play a couple of weeks ago. She will extend her record in Brampton by appearing in her 15th Women’s Worlds.
April 2/Sweden 1-Switzerland 0, Aurora Community Centre, Aurora
Emma Soderberg stopped all 18 shots to lead the Swedes to a 1-0 win in their only exhibition game. The loss came a day after the Swiss beat Germany by a shutout. The only goal of the game came from Hilda Svensson at 10:36 of the second period in a tight game that featured seven power plays. Soderberg has assumed the starter’s role with the underdog Swedes, starting ten games combined in 2022 at the Olympics and Women’s Worlds and making a case to continue in her role as the number-one ‘tender in Brampton.
April 2/Japan 2-France 1, Port Credit Memorial Arena, Mississauga
The Japanese continued their fine play with a narrow win over France. Goalie Riko Kawaguchi, who played only briefly in the 2022 WW, went the full 60 minutes and stopped 31 of 32 shots for the win. Makoto Ito was the offensive hero, scoring the winning goal with only 2:33 remaining in regulation. Japan had scored the lone goal of the first 40 minutes, only to see Clara Rozier tie the game midway through the third. Japan will have to continue its strong play in the tournament as it will be playing in Group A for the first time since the vertical format was introduced in 2012. Their current achievement came thanks to their 1-0 win over Finland in the 5th-place game last year in Herning, Denmark.
April 2/Germany 1-Hungary 0, Canlan Sports, North York
In a game that replicated the Sweden-Switzerland game earlier in the day, only a second-period goal dented an otherwise blank scoresheet. Thirty-year-old Sonja Weidenfelder, who has played at the two most recent Women’s Worlds, scored that lone goal midway through the game. Sandra Abstreiter stopped all 28 shots for the shutout win while Hungary used both goalies. Aniko Nemeth was perfect in her appearance while Zsuzsa Revesz allowed Weidenfelder's goal.