United States blanks Finland 5-0 to set up women’s hockey worlds final against Canada

The United States and Canada will renew their rivalry in the final of the women’s ice hockey championship on Monday.

In the semifinals on Sunday, defending champion U.S. blanked Finland 5-0 before Canada shut out Sweden 3-0.

U.S. captain Hilary Knight had a goal and added an assist with Kelly Pannek, Alex Carpenter, Caroline Harvey and Lacey Eden also scoring.

Aerin Rankel stopped 17 shots for her eighth career worlds shutout and 19th victory.

The Americans jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the opening period after Pannek netted the opener from the low slot 6:36 in and Knight fed Carpenter with a backhand pass from behind the net to double the advantage with 3:26 remaining.

Harvey, Eden and Knight extended the lead to 5-0 in the span of 1:35 in the second period.

Tournament leading scorer Harvey moved on to 15 points from six games. Knight extended her record point tally to 130 with 74 goals and 56 assists in 93 games at the worlds.

Finland pulled goalie Sanni Ahola, who made 20 saves, after the second period, with Emilia Kyrkko taking over and finishing with nine saves.

Sarah Fillier, Sarah Wozniewicz and Emma Maltais scored a goal each and goalie Ann-Renee Desbiens had a 13-save shutdown for Canada.

Fillier skated to the left circle before breaking the deadlock with a snap shot high into the net 7:15 into the middle frame.

The forward extended her goal streak to four games. She didn’t skate in the first two games at the tournament due to an upper body injury.

Wozniewicz made it 2-0 on a breakaway and Maltais added the third in the final period.

Finland will next play in the bronze-medal game against Sweden after finishing third last year.

Canada has 13 world titles, followed by the U.S. with 11.

The Americans won the 2025 title in the Czech Republic and the Olympic gold medal at the Milan Cortina Games in February, beating Canada in overtime in both finals.

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