On the face of it, this scoreline suggests another comfortable victory over European opposition as Canada continues to build its game towards the sharp end of the 2025 Women's U18 World Championship.

However, for the second night in a row Canada faced some hard work before getting on top of a notionally weaker opponent. Switzerland, the lowest seeded team in Group B, held the Canadians goalless through the first period before yielding in the second and eventually falling 5-1.

The opening frame saw Amaya Iseli pull off 14 saves to keep Canada at bay. But this wasn’t just elite goaltending, it was a solid, disciplined defensive effort throughout the entire team. Sure, there wasn’t much of an offensive threat at the other end: even with four minutes on the power play, the Swiss had just two shots at Amelia Wilkinson in the opening stanza. But sticking to the system, making Canada battle for everything and trying to take away shooting lanes ensured that after 20 minutes the game was deadlocked.
 
Not that the Canadians were unduly anxious during the intermission. Dorothy Copetti, who went on to score twice, summed up the mood. "We knew we were going to come out with all that we have and once we got the first one we just didn't stop," she said.

It took a captain’s effort to make the breakthrough. Chloe Primerano was last year’s MVP on her World U18s debut. Here, she showed why, tracking back into her own zone to retrieve the puck then advancing from one set of face-off circles to the other before zinging a wrister into Iseli’s net. That’s why she’s so highly regarded, and that’s the difference between a medal contender and an outsider.

Once ahead, the favourite quickly consolidated. The Swiss effort was always going to be draining – those pucks just keep coming back – and after the initial breakthrough it’s hard to maintain the same intensity.

Three minutes later, Copetti doubled the lead. She was first to the rebound after Anais Leprohon’s shot was padded away. Next Sara Manness made it 3-1. It’s her second U18 World Championship and her first on the same roster as her twin sister Kate. Tonight’s was her first goal, after five assists in previous games.

Then came a Swiss goal. In terms of the game, this was a consolation effort. But that understates the joy on Jael Manetsch’s face after she chased down a lost cause, forced an error from Leprohon and skated clear to beat Wilkinson. The ecstatic reaction of Switzerland’s players made it clear how much the moment meant to a committed group.

"I didn't even know where I shot, I just did it," smiled Manetsch after the game. While her goal was a rare moment of attacking play, she also feels that the D-zone effort will help her team prepare for the next game on Tuesday.

"We had a lot of work in the defensive zone and most of the time we did it well," she added. "We can use that against Slovakia."

Switzerland isn’t only hard-working team in Vantaa, though. Canada’s fourth goal came from putting in a proper shift. Ava Wood started it off, tracking back to strip Livia Tschannen of the puck as she tried to move into Canadian territory. Copetti was the beneficiary, but still needed to show some skills to get past Sarina Messikommer and score her second of the night.

The third period was largely about how many Canada could score, and how much resistance the Swiss defence could offer. Hayley McDonald’s second of the championship made it 5-1 on the power play early in the session. But after that, the intensity dropped a little as the game wound down with no further scoring.