Great Britain claimed five consecutive wins at the Volvo Sportcenter in Riga, Latvia to take gold at the 2025 IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship Division II Group A tournament.
Their perfect record comes a year after a silver medal performance, and sees the British earn promotion up to Division I Group B for the first time since 2020.
Ruby Newlands and Emma Lamberton were key offensive threats for Great Britain, both scoring crucial goals in their opening 3-1 win over Kazakhstan. All three teams on the podium—Great Britain, Kazakhstan and Latvia—scored over 30 goals throughout the tournament, and Newlands and Lamberton set the pace. Named Top Forward, Newlands bettered her impressive performance from 2024, racking up five goals and eight assists. Lamberton was in double digits for points as well, thanks to her five goals and five assists.
The British didn’t ease up on any of the opposing goaltenders. Their second game saw them outshoot the Netherlands 41-13 en route to a 3-0 shutout for goalie Lucy Holliday, the tournament’s Top Goalkeeper. They then outshot New Zealand by a whopping 69-10 margin to take a 16-1 victory. Great Britain’s Meeyah Forbes scored a hat trick, with two-goal performances from five other players.
Arguably Great Britain’s most important win, and their closest, was against Latvia. They faced the host nation on the penultimate day of competition, and this was the only game in which Great Britain didn’t get the first goal. Newlands stepped up, tying the game 1-1 in the first period, and then scoring the go-ahead goal with under four minutes remaining to give her country a 3-2 win.
At this point, the British had essentially secured the gold, but they still capped the tournament off with a big win, beating Chinese Taipei 10-2.
Silver and bronze were decided in the last game of the tournament featuring Kazakhstan and Latvia, two teams that stacked up similarly. Both teams had lost to Great Britain, and both had beaten the Netherlands, New Zealand and Chinese Taipei. Both teams came into the game with some outstanding offensive performances, and by the end of the tournament, both rosters had all but one skater with at least one point. Both teams had 14-goal wins on January 21, and both teams had two shutouts.
Unsurprisingly, the first two periods saw back-and-forth action. The teams exchanged goals in the first period, entering the second period tied 2-2. A shorthanded goal gave Latvia a 3-2 lead, but the Kazakhs responded and tied the game. This tie was short-lived, however, with the Latvians scoring just 29 seconds later to make it 4-3.
The third period belonged to Kazakhstan, which scored four unanswered goals to win 7-4 and take the silver, Latvia settling for bronze.
Kazakhstan’s Sofiya Zubkova (9+9=18) and Sofiya Muravyeva (9+4=13) were the tournament’s scoring leaders. While this was Zubkova’s third World Championship competition, it was the first for Muravyeva.
Latvia had several standout players, including the tournament’s Top Defender, Emilija Jakovleva. Latvian captain Kjara Paula Zelubovska led the tournament in assists with 10, with Hanna Strause leading her team with eight goals.
Despite scoring only five goals all tournament and getting shut out in three straight games, the Netherlands finished fourth, ahead of New Zealand.
The Dutch opened the tournament with a 2-1 win over Chinese Taipei, overcoming an early 1-0 deficit. They wouldn’t win again until the last day of competition, an important match-up against New Zealand. Fourteen-year-old rookie Yente Koolwijk scored twice to help the Netherlands to a 3-0 win, with goalie Robyn Verkaik getting the shutout.
As for New Zealand, they struggled to generate shots and allowed a lot of shots against. Even in their one win, a 4-3 victory over Chinese Taipei, the Kiwis were outshot 43-27. They scored all four of their goals that game in the first period, including two from Nerhys Gordon, leading 4-1 after 20 minutes. Chinese Taipei attempted to even the score, but New Zealand held on to the win, which aided them in avoiding relegation.
It was a tough tournament for Chinese Taipei, who were relegated to this division after finishing last in Division I Group B last year, and will now be relegated yet again to Division II Group B due to their five losses. While their games against New Zealand and the Netherlands were one-goal decisions, Chinese Taipei struggled with the three top teams. They conceded 14 goals to Latvia and 12 to Great Britain, with Kazakhstan shutting them out 6-0.