Japan 2, Hungary 0
Despite Japan being able to hold possession for stretches of this game, Hungary was very much in this and had plenty of opportunities to score their first goal of the tournament. They won the opening faceoff and took it straight to net. Miyuu Masuhara struggled to actually corral the puck and Hungary had at least three chances on a relatively open net they couldn't convert on.
Hungary led in shots 12-6 in the first, but it was Japan that would head to the locker room with the lead thanks to a brilliant read by Yumeka Wajima. She read the play at the top of the defensive zone and jumped up, stealing the puck and taking off down the ice where she beat Anikó Németh five-hole. That would prove to be all Japan needed to win the game. Akane Shiga would add an empty-netter to ice things and secure the 2-0 win.
Wajima had not scored in three previous World Championships, but has had a breakout year for Smile Japan and seems to have found her scoring touch and confidence. There was no hesitation in her breakaway as he deftly skated and puck-handled before calmly putting the puck between Németh's legs and into the net.
Japan is tied with Sweden atop the Group B standings. They each have two wins and each have seven goals for and two against. The two teams will play each other for that top seed on Sunday at 9 A.M. Eastern.
Canada 4, Switzerland 0
One-hundred and fifty-two seconds in the second period change the course of this game. After a back and forth first where shots were 13-12 in favor of Canada and they'd scored just once after Andrea Brändli made a save on Marie-Philip Poulin, but gave up a rebound that Micah Zandee-Hart put back. It was Zandee-Hart's first senior national team goal, scored in her 70th game at this level.
Switzerland was pushing back at Canada and getting their chances on Ann-Renée Desbiens, who returned to the ice for the first time in a month after suffering a lower body injury in the PWHL. But things started to fall apart midway through the game. Poulin rang the post and a few minutes later, the Canadians got a power play. According to the IIHF recap of the game, Lara Stalder became the Women's Worlds all-time penalty minutes leader with 79 on a roughing penalty.
Poulin notched the second of her four helpers by placing a gorgeous pass on Natalie Spooner's stick at the back door. Spooner scored to make it 2-0. Not quite two minutes later, Poulin dropped the puck to Laura Stacey, who sniped the puck home to make it 3-0. Just 40 seconds later, Daryl Watts scored her first senior national team goal with a gorgeous shot from the faceoff circle to make it 4-0.
After a promising first frame, Switzerland were outshot over the final two periods 27-5 and the team just looked deflated after Canada's scoring spree. The Swiss have not scored a goal through their first two games. They appeared a little unlucky in the later stages of this game as they failed to convert on some prime opportunities, but Desbiens also showed why she is Canada's number one goalie and why she was put on this roster on the belief she'd be recovered from her injury. With Friday's win she tied Switzerland's Florence Schelling for most goaltender wins at the senior Women's World Championship.
Canada gets Saturday off and will face the Americans at 1 P.M. Eastern on Sunday.
United States 4, Czechia 0
The world was fully introduced to Dartmouth freshman goalie, 19-year-old Michaela Hesová, who made 48 saves for Czechia and kept this game from getting out of hand. It was a stellar performance that wasn't a suprise for anyone that watched her at U18s or saw the season she had in Hockey East, where she didn't get much goal support and finished with a 4-21-3 record, but had a .922 save percentage despite being in the top-10 among goalies for shots faced. She was poised and solid, had great rebound control and showed why she's the future of this team.
Other than that, this game was basically peak Abbey Murphy. She earned a power play by getting under Noemi Neubauerová's skin, scored a gorgeous one-timer goal on a different player advantage that was basically a carbon copy of several goals she had for Minneosta this season and had Czechia coach Carla MacLeod telling the officials she was diving to draw a penalty. Everything that fans and opponents love and love to hate about her and what makes her great was on full display.
I said on social media that her first goal was basically her bread and butter while on the power play and was the stuff of WCHA goalies' nightmares. She has scored so many goals in a similar fashion and Czechia gave her so much time and space to find her lane and pick her spot that when she did get the puck, there was no doubt it was going in. She scored her second of the game midway through the second after driving the net where she cleaned up a loose puck to make it 2-0.
Hilary Knight and Alex Carpenter added power play goals in the third to secure the 4-0 win. In the US net, Gwyn Philps earned her first shutout. She wasn't tested often, but was sharp when Czechia did break through.
The Americans had averaged nearly eight goals a game in the teams' previous four meetings. Hesová was a major player in that, but the Czechs overall played really well, blocking shots, pressuring the US and clogging up lanes. Murphy's first goal counts as equal strength, but it came one second after a power play expired. The two third period goals were also on the player advantage. Allow only one realy equal strength goal is big for Czechia. However, they struggled to do much going the other direction. There were a few odd-players rushes and turnover chances, but they never much spent time on offense or found a way to set up in the zone. Puck possession has to be the next step forward for them against the North American teams.
The game summary doesn't have attendance on it, but the broadcast makes me believe it was another sellout. That crowd was loud and engaged, chanting, cheering, singing, jumping and playing much from buzzer to buzzer. It may be obvious, but I want to make sure to explicitly say loudly and often what a great job Czechia appears to be doing in hosting their first Women's Worlds. There seems to have been so much buy in from so many different areas and this tournament is being treated like the big deal it is. I'm so sad I'm not there to experience it.
Team USA has an off day and will face Canada on Sunday at 1 P.M. Eastern
Coming up on Saturday, April 12
- 9:00 AM Eastern – Norway vs. Germany (Group B) (NHL Network, TSN1)
- 1:00 PM Eastern – Finland vs. Czechia (Group A) (NHL Network, TSN1)
(Photo: IIHF)
