USA Flexes Their Offensive Power In Dominant Start Against Switzerland

In Esbjerg, Denmark, Team USA opened the defence of their World Championship gold medal with an impressive offence beating Switzerland 7-0. USA got two goals each from Laila Edwards and Hannah Bilka to open the 2026 World Championships.

“Today was a good opening game for the team,” said John Wroblewski, head coach of Team USA. “There were a lot of good things for us to build on as we continue forward.” 

After a slow start, Hannah Bilka opened the scoring past the midway point of the first period taking a pass from Taylor Fox for the USA's first goal of the tournament.

Casey O’Brien added to the American lead cleaning up a net front flurry to record her first career World Championship goal.

Laila Edwards, who was the World Championship MVP in 2024 deflected a Caroline Harvey shot to extend USA's lead in the second period. It was followed by a pair of goals by Bilka and Kirsten Simms in quick succession to extend USA's lead to 5-0.

In the third, Hilary Knight added to her tallies as both the United States' and World Championship's all-time leading scorer making it 6-0, before Laila Edwards iced the scoring late to make it 7-0. Aerin Frankel needed to make only eight saves to record her seventh career World Championship shutout.

Were it not for an incredible performance in Denmark's crease, things could have been much worse for the hosts in their opener as they fell 4-1 to Finland. While the score looked close, Finland outshot Denmark 59-6 in the game.

Finland's Elisa Holopainen opened the scoring ripping a shot over Nordstrom. The Finns also got goals from Petra Nieminen, Emma Nuutinen, and Sofie Nuutinen. 

Denmark's lone tally came in the third period when Nikita Bergmann found the back of the net.

In the other game of the day, Austria gave Czechia a surprising fight, before ultimately falling 4-1 to the Czechs. Austria's Anna Meixner opened the scoring in the first period giving Austria life before Klara Hymlarova answered for Czechia to settle her team.

Natalie Mlynkova, with a helper to Katerina Mrazova scored the lone goal of the second period before Mrazova scored a pair of her own in the third. Her second came into an empty net as Austria sought to get back into the game.

On Day 2 of the IIHF World Championships, Germany opens their tournament against Austria in a crucial game to avoid relegation play. Japan will open their tournament against Denmark with similar importance.