ZLIN, Czech Republic – Canada’s National Women’s Under-18 Team will return home with a silver medal after a 3-1 loss to the United States in the gold-medal game Saturday at the 2017 IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship.
Daryl Watts (Toronto, Ont./Mississauga, PWHL) pulled Canada even on the power play with just over six minutes left in the third period before the U.S. netted the game-winner with 2:32 to go, and an empty-netter finished the scoring. Between the pipes, Danika Ranger (Uxbridge, Ont./Durham West, PWHL) turned aside 19 of 21 American shots.
“When we were able to tie it up late in the third period, you hope that momentum will carry you through but they quickly rebounded and ultimately that goal ended up costing us,” said Troy Ryan, head coach of Canada’s National Women’s Under-18 Team. “There’s obviously disappointment, but this group came together as a team and every player in that dressing room after the game, all 23 of them, are better athletes and better players by experiencing this together.”
Canada finished the preliminary round with a perfect 3-0 record after defeating the Sweden (5-1), Russia (4-2) and the United States (1-0 in overtime), and it advanced the gold-medal game after a 6-2 semifinal victory over Sweden on Friday.
“I’ve never seen a group more connected than this group. I’m proud of every one of them and proud we all experienced this championship together,” said Team Canada captain, Ashton Bell. “It was a great pace; in the end we didn’t get the bounces we wanted and came up short but we believe we worked until the end and fought hard.”
Canada has now won the silver medal six times at the world championship (2008, 2009, 2011, 2015, 2016, 2017) and is an four-time gold-medallist, winning in 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2014.
TEAM CANADA RETURN FLIGHT ITINERARY INFORMATION
Players and staff will return to their final destinations on Sunday, Jan. 15 and Monday, Jan. 16. See below for specific flight itineraries for Canada’s players and staff. Information is listed alphabetically by city. Flight information may change without notice, please note that all arrival times are LOCAL time.
Jan. 15, 2016
Halifax, N.S. / AC624 / 11:59 p.m.
Troy Ryan (head coach)
Montreal, Que. / AC428 / 10:49 p.m.
Gabrielle David, Édith D’Astous-Moreau, Audrey-Anne Veillette
Newark, N.J. / LX18 / 8:25 p.m.
Cara Morey (assistant coach)
Saskatoon, Sask. / AC1131 / 11:40 p.m.
Brooke Hobson
Toronto, Ont. / AC877 / 7:35 p.m.
Emma Buckles, Sarah Fillier, Meaghan Hector, Emma Maltais, Brooke McQuigge, Avery Mitchell, Alexa Vasko, Daryl Watts, Shelby Wood
Winnipeg, Man. / AC271 / 10:36 p.m.
Ashton Bell, Corinne Schroeder
Jan. 16, 2016
Abbotsford, B.C. / WJ637 / 1:05 p.m.
Amy Potomak
Burlington, Vt. / DL3670 / 11:54 a.m.
Maegan Beres
Hartford, Conn. / AC8020 / 9:30 a.m.
Amanda Mazzotta (goaltending coach)
Kelowna, B.C. / AC1693 / 11:34 a.m.
Nara Elia, Olivia Knowles, Sophie Shirley
Minneapolis, Minn. / AC7376 / 9:45 a.m.
Brette Pettet, Courtney Vorster
Penticton, B.C. / WJ3281 / 2:25 p.m.
Delaney Collins (assistant coach)
For more information on Hockey Canada and Canada’s National Women’s Under-18 Team, please visit HockeyCanada.ca, or follow through social media on Facebook, Twitter, and Twitter.com/HC_Women.