After two days of competition at the 2024 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 Women’s World Championship, we’ve still got a long way to go before the medals are handed out. Yet we can already detect certain patterns that may shape the ultimate outcome in Zug, Switzerland.

So let’s dive into eight lessons from Saturday and Sunday’s games.

1) It’s not how you start but how you finish

Slovakia threatened to pull off 2024’s first major upset, holding the U.S. to a 1-1 tie through 40 minutes. But early in the third period, the Americans blew the game open with a record-setting five goals in 4:02 and marched to an 8-1 victory.

“We had a little bit of a slow start, but I thought we hung in there and ended up getting rewarded for playing the game the right way, sticking to the plan, and getting everyone involved,” said U.S. head coach Liz Keady Norton, who hopes to lead her nation to its ninth gold medal.

2) Primerano is the real deal

Every hockey fan knows that the Vancouver area is producing some of the game’s biggest stars today. Chloe Primerano – who has 57 points in just 15 games with Rink Hockey Academy (RHA) Kelowna this season – certainly belongs on that list.

The ultra-mobile defender debuted with five points to help Canada thrash Germany 11-0 – tying a 2008 record for Canadian blueliners set by Laura Fortino – and then added an assist in the 8-1 win over Czechia. It’s not too soon to start the all-star team conversation about Primerano, who leads all skaters with a +8 plus-minus rating.

3) Canada is deadly shorthanded

You never want to take six of the game’s first seven penalties, but Canada sure made the most of it versus the Czechs. Caitlin Kraemer – Canada’s new all-time U18 Women’s Worlds goal leader (14), overtaking Marie-Philip Poulin – scored shorthanded for the first of her two goals. And Abby Stonehouse added two more shorties en route to a five-point night. Three shorthanded goals set a new single-game tournament record.

The red Maple Leaf’s combination of aggression, opportunism, and pure talent could wreak havoc against other teams’ power plays too.

4) Never give up

Canadian forward Sienna D’Alessandro didn’t originally expect to be here. The Quebec native, who has played against boys with the Lac St. Louis Lions club, was a summer cut before getting called back by Team Canada GM Gina Kingsbury. She got to strut her stuff in exhibition play against Finland and versus the U.S. in the Summer Select Series.

Going out against Germany and getting a Day One hat trick was sweet validation for D’Alessandro and her underdog story.

5) Don’t sleep on Ekoluoma

At 164 cm, Emma Ekoluoma is of average height, but she stood extra-tall with a hat trick when Finland came back from 2-0 down to edge the Czechs 3-2. Each of the Karpat Oulu forward’s goals, including the backhand deke that won it in the third period, reflected skill and focus.

Ekoluoma stayed red-hot with another three goals in a 6-1 rout of Germany. Worth noting: the only skater ever to register three hat tricks in a row from the start of a U18 Women’s Worlds is the U.S.’s Haley Skarupa (2012), who also holds the single-tournament goals record (11).

The Finns will need more big goals from Ekoluoma in order to make a run for their fourth medal ever after capturing bronze thrice (2011, 2019, 2022).

6) Promotion means a learning curve

The newly promoted Germans continue to battle in every game, but thus far, they haven’t translated that effort into scoreboard success. They’re a step behind in most aspects. After falling 6-0 to Finland on Sunday, coach Jeff MacLeod’s squad has been outscored 17-0 and outshot 114-10 on aggregate.

To set a positive tone for the quarter-finals, they must go back to the drawing board and find some answers against the Czechs on Tuesday.

7) The faceoff stereotype rings true

Historically, the assumption is that North American teams will outperform their European counterparts on faceoffs. So far in Zug, that’s been the case. Out of the top 10 players by faceoff percentage, four are Canadian and four American. The U.S.’s Alanna Devlin tops the parade at 96.1 percent with 11 wins on 12 draws.

Swedish captain Ebba Hedqvist is a notable exception, ranked third overall at 71.4 percent (15 wins on 21 draws). Finland’s Erika Kankkunen is fifth at 67.8 percent (19 wins on 28 draws).

8) Forwards can be ice time leaders

At the 2023 IIHF Women’s World Championship in Brampton, Ontario, only two of the top 10 average ice time leaders were forwards: Japan’s Rui Ukita (fourth overall, 25:05) and Haruka Toko (ninth overall, 23:50).

However, a different pattern prevails at the 2024 U18 Women’s Worlds, with five forwards in the top 10. Coaches of long-shot medal contenders, hungry for offence, are happy to put their top attackers out there as much as possible.

Host Switzerland exemplifies this trend. Yes, tournament ice time leader Alena Rossel (27:07) is a defender, but assistant captain Ivana Wey (26:55) and captain Naemi Herzig (26:17) rank second and third respectively, and Elisa Dalessi (23:10) is sixth.

Among the Czech forwards, it’s no surprise to see captain Adela Sapovalivova (22:06) – already a two-time Women’s Worlds bronze medalist – sitting eighth overall. Slovak forward Lilien Benakova is right behind her (22:04).