CALGARY, AB – Canada and the USA will meet for the gold medal at the 2008 IIHF World Women’s Under-18 Championship on Saturday night after both were victorious in their Friday semi-finals – Canada beat Sweden 7-1 while the USA topped the Czech Republic 8-0.

The gold medal game (Saturday, 7:30 p.m. MT) is sold out, but can be seen via webcast at  www.hockeycanada.ca and www.telus.com/hockeycanada.The bronze medal game between Sweden and the Czech Republic (Saturday, 4:00 p.m.) can also be seen via webcast.

Catherine White (Brampton, ON) scored twice and Camille Dumais (Beaconsfield, QC) added a goal and two assists in Canada’s win over Sweden in Friday’s semi-final win, while Delayne Brian (Winnipeg, MB) made 15 saves as Canada remained undefeated, and on Saturday will look to equal the feat of Canada’s 1990 National Women’s Team – winning the inaugural IIHF world championship on home ice.

Canada and the USA are no strangers to each other in gold medal games at IIHF women’s world championships – they have met in all 10 of the final games at the IIHF World Women’s Championship.

The two teams met in a three-game Under-18 series in late August in Ottawa, ON, with Canada winning all three games. However, the USA has only 11 players on their roster from that series, while Canada has 15.

The 2008 IIHF World Women’s Under-18 Championship is the first ever world championship held at the women’s Under-18 level, with eight teams – Canada, the United States, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Switzerland, Russia and the Czech Republic – taking part in the six-day tournament from January 7-12 at Father David Bauer Arena and Norma Bush Arena.