2025 IIHF Women's World Championship: Day 2

Japan 5, Norway 2

I talked a bit about consistency and conditioning in my Group A preview, but Norway got the first-hand experience of how fast and difficult a top-tier game is for the full 60 minutes. They were able to hang with Japan fairly well in the first frame, but it started to fall apart from there. Overall, the Japanese outshot the Norwegians 57-27, including 25-5 in the second.

Norway did get the joy of scoring first - their first goal at this level in 28 year - and it came from veteran Andrea Dalen, who is fresh off leading the SDHL playoffs in points and scoring a major upset with Frölunda HC over Luleå. It felt really fitting for Dalen to get the goal and it was nice for Norway to get to celebrate the moment and the lead two minutes into the game because it did not last long. Akane Hosoyamada, who played at Syracuse in the 2010's, backhanded a rebound into the net less than three minutes later to tie the game 1-1.

Rui Ukita followed her own shot that wasn't cleanly stopped and gave Japan the 2-1 lead later in the second. Norway pushed back as Marthe Pabsdorff Brunvold scored on the rush to tie the game 2-2 before the first intermission.

But the speed and discipline of Japan took control of the game from there. Mei Miura and Riri Noro scored in the second to make it 4-2 and Akane Shiga showed off some of the moves that had her playing in North America before she moved to the SDHL this season to score in the third and close out the 5-2 win.

Japan faces Hungary at 5 AM Eastern on Friday. Norway gets a day off before playing Germany at 9 AM on Saturday.

Sweden 2, Hungary 0

The Swedes skated away with the win but it was an impressive showing from Hungary as they frustrated Sweden, slowed them down, clogged lanes and generally made life difficult for a team that looked much smoother against Germany in their first game of the tournament on Wednesday.

Hungary thought they'd gotten on the board in the first, but a goal that looked to be put in off Emma Kreisz' head was waved off. Sweden took some time to really settle into their game in the face of the strong Hungarian defense. Anikó Németh made some key saves, but the defense in front of her did a stellar job of not even letting the puck get that far. Fruzsina Mayer seemed to block shot after shot.

A frustrated Swedish team tried to regroup heading into the second, but it took until the waning minutes of the frame before they finally broke through. Hilda Svensson showed off some patience and vision as she gathered the puck behind the net and looked for an outlet, hitting Linnea Johansson as she crashed the net to make it a 1-0 game.

Hungary pushed back in the third, outshooting Sweden 11-6 in the frame and Emma Söderberg had to make a few massive saves to keep her team in the lead. Lina Ljungblom redirected a rocket of a shot by Mira Jungåker to give Sweden a 2-0 led with under five to play. The Swedes took their second win of the tournament, even if it was a little more difficult than they would have liked.

There's a lot to grow on and build momentum off for Hungary in this game. They'll hope to carry that against Japan tomorrow at 5 AM Eastern. Sweden takes a day off and will play their third preliminary game Sunday at 9 AM Eastern against Japan.

Canada 5, Finland 0

It's nice when you can just transplant the full first line of the top team in the PWHL standings to run your country's offense at the World Championships. The chemistry that has worked so well with Marie-Philip Poulin, Laura Stacey and Jenn Gardiner didn't miss a step on Thursday.

It was Gardiner's first-ever World's game, but she was unphased and led Canada with two goals and an assist. The starting five Canadians were responsible for nine of the team's 12 total points as Poulin and Ella Shelton each had a goal and an assist while Stacey and Renata Fast each had an assist. Emma Maltais was responsible for the other goal.

Maybe the most interesting storyline in this one was the goalies. Twenty-one-year-old St. Cloud State freshman goalie Emilia Kyrkkö got the start in net for Finland, but was replaced by Anni Keisala just 18 seconds into the second when Gardiner scored her second to give Canada the 4-0 lead.

Kirsten Campbell started for Canada in place of the recovering-from-injury Ann-Renée Desbiens. Campbell has been a backup for several years at this point but not actually gotten any ice time with the national team. She's had an up and down season in the PWHL but came up big for the Canadians on some defensive breakdowns in this game.

This was not the game Finland hoped to have after losing 7-1 to the US on Wednesday. It was a the worst scenario for the Finns to start with these two games and once again on Thursday they struggled to generate much in the way of offense.

Finland will be looking to get some points out of their matchup with Czechia on Saturday at 1 PM Eastern. Canada faces Switzerland at 9 AM Friday morning.