Taylor Heise scored twice and added three assists and Amanda Kessel notched a hat trick and a helper in the United States 10-1 semifinal rout over Czechia at the 2022 IIHF Women’s World Championship in Denmark. Hilary Knight bagged two goals and Hayley Scamurra, Jesse Compher and Caroline Harvey also lit the lamp for Team USA, which is 6-0 in tournament and has outscored its opponents 52-5. Klara Hymlarova was the only Czech skater to beat Nicole Hensley, who finished with nine stops. The Americans will meet arch-rival Canada in this afternoon’s gold medal game.
Canada advanced with a one-sided 8-1 win over Switzerland. Marie-Philip Poulin scored two goals and added an assist and Brianne Jenner, Sarah Fillier, Sarah Nurse, Emily Clark, Kristin O’Neill and Jessie Eldridge also tallied. Lara Christen scored the only goal for Switzerland, who will take on Czechia for bronze.
In the 5th-8th place semifinals, Finland got by Hungary 3-2 in overtime, thanks to Elisa Holopainen’s goal 1:26 into the extra session, while Japan edged Sweden 5-4, with the game-winner going to Remi Koyama late in the third period. The Swedes finished the tournament in seventh place while the Hungarians finished eighth.
Today’s games
Fifth Place: Finland vs Japan – in progress
Third Place: Switzerland vs Czechia 9 a.m. (NHL Network)
Final: United States vs Canada 1:30 p.m. (NHL Network)
NHL signings
The San Jose Sharks inked unrestricted free agent forward Evgeny Svechnikov to a one-year, two-way deal worth $750K. Svechnikov spent last season with the Winnipeg Jets, where he put up 7 goals and 19 points in 72 games played. He appeared in both of Winnipeg’s losses to the Florida Panthers, going scoreless. (Fear The Fin)