Americans Emily Pohl and Margaret Averill both notched two goals and two assists to help the U.S. handily take the Swedes out of gold medal contention with a 9-1 win Saturday evening at the 2026 IIHF U18 Women's World Championship in Sydney. But the Swedes still have a chance to grab bronze.
SYDNEY, N.S. — The Americans easily skated to a 9-1 win over Sweden in semifinal action Saturday at Centre 200, with captain Maggie Averill and Emily Pohl contributing four points apiece to the scoresheet to help earn the United States its berth into the gold medal game at U18 women's worlds in Cape Breton.
Fans cheered for both teams equally, from puck drop to final buzzer, with plenty of spectators decked out in blue and yellow to help cheer on the struggling Swedes, but the goals came fast and furiously from the U.S., starting with Averill's marker just under four minutes into the first period.
The two national teams traded penalties before blueliner Pohl potted her first of the night on a powerplay, with help from Averill and forward Talia Hansen at 14:51 in the first to make it 2-0 going into intermission.
Jillian McLaughlin kept the momentum going for the U.S. early in the second, adding another to the scoreboard, again just under three minutes into the period. The 3-0 deficit so early in the game clearly frustrated the Swedish squad, resulting in a serious of penalties, including an interference call, along with a five-minute spearing penalty for forward Moa Stridh, which was served by teammate Greta Johansson, and also came with a 20-minute game misconduct.
That gave plenty of room and space for American forward Jane Daley to make it 4-0 on the powerplay midway through the second, while Averill on the powerplay and Pohl once the ice was equal again, both scoring their second goals of the game within minutes, and Madelyn Kimbrel adding another to make it 7-0 after 40 minutes.
The Swedish coaching staff opted to switch out starting goaltender Meja Engelin for Thea Holmberg to start the third, a choice that helped revive the underdogs off the puck drop, with alternate captain Tilde Grillfors cracking the goose egg on assists from Ebba Westerlind and Maja Akerlund on a too-many-men powerplay to make it 7-1 at 3:03 in the third.
But there just wasn't enough time for Sweden to play catch-up after a rough second period, and the Americans refused to slow down in the final frame, with Talla Hansen and Lindsay Stepnowski adding goals to cap it off at 9-1 after 60 minutes.
For Sweden's part, Engelin stopped 25 of 32 American shots, while Holmberg made seven saves over her 20 minutes between the posts.
U.S. netminder Bianca Birrittieri, meanwhile, made 16 saves over three periods.
Earlier Saturday, Finland played its first relegation game in history for this under-18 international tournament, losing to Hungary 7-5 and forcing them into the Top Division to Division I under International Ice Hockey Federation regulations.
The bronze medal game starts at 3:30 p.m. Atlantic Time (AT), while the gold medal game faces off at 7:30 p.m. local time in Nova Scotia. Catch the action live on TSN.
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