Women's Worlds: USA vs. Canada (2024)

Team USA scored five unanswered goals to defeat Canada on Tuesday, 5-2.

Both Canada and the United States cruised through their opening games at the 2022 Women's World Championship, going a combined 6-0 while outscoring opponents 42-3.

(Photo: George Walker IV / USA Today)

If you’re looking for a reason to watch the USA’s game against the No. 8 seed on Thursday, whoever that may be, we’re on Hilary Knight Record Watch.

She’s got 85 points in her Worlds career, one behind Hayley Wickenheiser for first place all time.

There’s been some confusion surrounding her correct total, and she had an assist taken away this afternoon, but the end result is that she’s still got one left for the tie and two left for the lead.

Team USA beats Team Canada 5-2.

They're now the No. 1 seed in the tournament and finish pool play with a perfect 4-0 record.

They'll face the no. 8 seed in the quarter finals on Thursday. Canada, the second seed, will face the No. 7 ranked team.

Well, this is the first time Canada has lost a game at a major event since the 2019 world championships.

First loss at a major event for Troy Ryan, too.

U.S. 4, Canada 2. Kelly Pannek has been making stuff happen all game.

That goal went to captain Kendall Coyne Schofield, and she deserved it, but Pannek crashing the net was huge. That’s a necessary bit of breathing room.

We can at least stop with the comparisons to last the gold-medal game.

It’s completely understandable to compare this one to the last two tournaments! They’ve happened in less than a year!

Stuff that happened then is relevant now. There are differences and similarities with both these teams — they’re each other’s measuring sticks. None of this happens in a vacuum. Context is important.

Also, Lacey Eden almost scored another one. More tough minutes for the 20-year-old, huh?

Lacey Eden nets the go-ahead goal to make it 3-2 Team USA. It’s the 20 year old’s second goal of the tournament.

Yes, we’re comparing back to the last two tournaments a lot, but it’s refreshing to see a 20 year old get minutes when the score is tied against an opponent as tough as Canada.

Here we go, the third period is about the begin. Do we have any bold predictions?

I think it might go to overtime. Call it a crazy hunch.

Period 2 shots follow a similar theme to the first.

Team USA with tips and redirects from in close, Canada generating a lot from the slot and home plate

USA led in shots in period 1, but conceded two goals.

Now Canada takes over in shots, leading 24-19, but allowed two goals against in the second frame. More shots are apparently bad!

John Wroblewski has told me several times since getting to Denmark that he wants his team to be at the net front.

The other day he said, "I don’t believe in volume shooting; there is such thing as a bad shot in hockey if you don’t have players at the net. I don’t believe in just getting in there to get it there. So there is methodology behind everything we do in the offensive zone…"

I guess Barnes and Pannek got the message! The methodology, it works!

Team USA and Hensley should be thanking the goal post for stopping a Canada shot ahead of Pannek’s score.

Could have been a very different game had they gone up 3-1.

Maybe winning the shot battle is bad.

After Canada pulled even, then ahead — controlling play all the while — Kelly Pannek come back and ties the game 2-2 for the U.S. She’s got two goals and an assist in the tournament thus far.

Probably a good time for the U.S. to go on the power play — Canada had controlled the pace early in the second period before Meaghan Mikkelson headed to the box on a tripping call.

The U.S. power play has looked better than it did at the Olympics, though that isn’t particularly hard. Hannah Bilka and Hilary Knight teamed up for one quality chance, then helped set up Megan Keller for the goal.

2-1, Canada.

The shot maps help show Team USA’s even strength shot pressure after a fairly even start, but Canada picked it back up after taking a 2-0 lead.

While USA clustered some of their chances right along the crease, Team Canada’s made a difference with their chances from the home plate.

Canada is up 2-0 in a tournament game despite the U.S. outshooting them by (estimate) a couple hundred.

I’ve seen this movie before — back in February — and I did not care for it.