Canada’s National Women’s Under-18 Team opens defence of its gold medal at the 2023 IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship with a Sunday face off against Finland.

LAST GAME

The Canadians and Finns met Thursday in pre-tournament play in Väsby, Sweden, with Finland earning a 4-3 victory. Éloïse Caron, Alex Law and Jordan Baxter provided the scoring for the Canadians, who held a 40-11 advantage in shots but couldn’t find a late equalizer.

LAST MEETING

Prior to their pre-tournament matchup, the teams last met in the semifinals of the 2022 IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship in Wisconsin, a 2-1 victory for Canada. Jade Iginla opened the scoring in the first period before Tilli Keranen evened things up for the Finns in the second. That set the stage for Madison Chantler, who potted the winner with 9:30 left to send Canada to play for gold.

WHAT TO WATCH

Canada’s roster includes seven players who won gold seven months ago in Madison – Baxter, Law, Jocelyn Amos, Alexia Aubin, Piper Grober, Ava Murphy and Emmalee Pais – so the big-game experience and leadership are there. There are also 21 players who swept the United States in a three-game summer series last August in Calgary – the first sweep by the Canadians since 2007.

The Finns are the reigning bronze medallists and have 11 players back from the team that beat Canada in the prelims and pushed them in a one-goal semifinal loss. Sanni Vanhanen leads the way – the 17-year-old had six points and won 61.2% of her faceoffs last June and has IIHF Women’s World Championship and Olympic Games experience under her belt.

A LOOK BACK

Overall, the long-time women’s hockey rivals have met 11 times at the IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship, with Canada’s lone loss a 2-0 preliminary-round defeat last in Madison.

Some of the best Canadian single-game performances have come against the Finns – Laura Fortino (1-4—5) and Natalie Spooner (0-5—5) had five points apiece, and Marie-Philip Poulin scored a hat trick as part of a 17-0 win – Canada’s largest victory ever at the U18 women’s worlds – in 2008.

All-time record: Canada leads 10-1
Canada goals: 63
Finland goals: 6