Women's U-18 Worlds Day 2: Top Players Shine in Victories

Maggie Scannell carried USA in a blowout over Finland, Slovakia's 14-year-old scored a hat trick, and Czechia and Canada won again at the U-18 women’s worlds.

Day 2 at the U-18 Women’s World Championship saw the tournament’s top players emerge with exceptional individual efforts.

USA’s Maggie Scannell potted five points, while Czechia’s Tereza Plosova, who led the 2022 tournament in scoring, had a goal and two assists. Fourteen-year-old Slovakian phenom Nela Lopusanova continued to shine with a hat trick and four points. Hosts Sweden gave Canada a scare before Caitlin Kraemer scored a pair of third-period goals.

Here is a game-by-game recap and the three stars from Day 2 of the tournament in Sweden.

Nobody could stop Maggie Scannell in USA’s 8-1 win over Finland. The dynamic Shattuck St. Mary’s forward wasted no time in asserting herself as a player who will soon be on USA’s senior national radar by scoring a hat trick and compiling five points.

Finley McCarthy broke a check below the goal line to open the game, walking to the net front before losing the puck. Scannell was waiting to pounce and ripped a perfect shot top corner over Suvi Saarinen’s glove. Samantha Taber added to USA’s lead later in the frame, with captain Joy Dunne assisting on the 2-0 goal. She sent a perfect cross-ice backhand pass to Taber, who walked in and unleashed a powerful backhander of her own.

Early in the second, Neea Pelkonen redirected a pass from Pauliina Salonen toward the net after a turnover in the USA zone, beating USA’s Layla Hemp to score Finland’s first goal of the tournament.

Scannell soon took matters into her own hands. She scored back-to-back unassisted goals 37 seconds apart to blow the game open for the Americans, giving her nation a 4-1 lead. Both of Scannell’s goals came off Finnish turnovers.

Dunne scored one of her own in the second, continuing to pile on the offense, and picked up her third point on Cassie Hall’s third-period marker. Gabrielle Kim also scored in the third, while Scannell added her fifth point of the night on Finley McCarthy’s late third-period tally to complete the 8-1 decision.

After defeating Switzerland in their opener, Czechia inched closer to securing a spot in the quarterfinal with a 5-1 win over Japan. Although they were quiet in the opener, Czechia’s stars came out to play in Game 2 as Adela Sapovalivova, Tereza Plosova and Tereza Pistekova each scored in the win.

After playing scoreless for much of the opening period, Czechia got on the board on a late power play. Plaza and Anna Vanickova made goal-mouth attempts before Pistekova found the loose puck and made no mistake.

To open the second period, Plosoza broke through the neutral zone, joined by Sapovalivova on a 2-on-1. The two completed a textbook give-and-go before Plosoza pulled the puck to her backhand, sliding it under Japanese netminder Madoka Sekiguchi to make it 2-0.

Czechia added another in the second before Japan got on the board to open the third period. Still, Czechia continued to pour on the offense culminating with their big three connecting to cap off the scoring. Plosoza and Pistekova did the dirty work before finding a wide-open Sapovalivova backdoor. She chipped a one-timer over Sekiguchi to finish the 5-1 win.

After putting together a three-point performance in her first game of the U-18 World Championship, 14-year-old Nela Lopusanova put together one of the most dominant performances ever seen by a player her age. She scored a hat trick and added an assist in Slovakia’s 4-1 win over Switzerland.

Lopusanova continued to dangle and dash around the Swiss defense, picking corners. Captain Zuzana Dobiasova had the other Slovak goal, while netminder Livia Debranova continued her solid play by making 18 stops in the win.

In the final game of the day, Sweden continued to prove they are a threat at the U-18 level.

Hilda Svensson opened the scoring 2:50 into the game for Sweden, finding space in the slot off a Canadian turnover before putting the puck through Canada’s Hannah Clark. Although Emma Pais answered quickly, Sweden continued to pepper the net and outshot Canada 13-11 in the opening frame.

In the second, Alex Law for Canada and Mira Jungaker for Sweden traded power-play goals to keep it tied at 2-2.

The third period saw Caitlin Kraemer, Canada’s leader in their opening win against Finland, play hero again. She scored a power-play goal to give Canada a narrow 3-2 lead, followed by the empty-netter with 15 seconds remaining.

A five-point game worthy of recognition, Scannell has capitalized on each of her opportunities, finding loose pucks and stealing turnovers. She puts herself in scoring position with ease, and when the puck finds her stick, it leaves as quickly as it came with deadly precision. On top of her hat trick, she also set up a pair of goals.

Move over Connor Bedard, there’s a new phenom stealing the show. Lopusanova finds ways to dangle, manipulating her body positioning and stick angles to fashion an elite release. She scored a hat trick and added an assist giving her seven points in two games as a 14-year-old.

Czechia’s alternate captain powered her team through Day 2, including a beautiful second-period marker where she carried the puck from her own blueline, accelerating through everyone before finishing a give-and-go with linemate Adela Sapovalivova. She led the tournament in scoring last year. To her opponents’ chagrin, Plosova is just getting started with her speed and power.