Women's Hockey World Championships 2015: Tracking Group Results and Scores
The World Championships represent one of the biggest events in women's hockey, and the planet's eight best teams are vying for the 2015 crown in Malmo, Sweden.
Canada and the United States have traditionally dominated the competition since its inception in 1990. The teams have met in all 15 gold medal games with the Canadians winning 10, although Team USA entered 2015 having won three of the past four.
While Canada and the United States are undoubtedly co-favorites once again, other countries such as Sweden, Finland and Switzerland are making measurable gains, so the 2015 Women's World Hockey Championships could be among the most competitive ever.
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As the 16th edition of this prestigious event progresses, here is a look at the current group standings as well as day-by-day rundowns of the results.
Group Standings
| Group A | ||||||||
| 1 | United States | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +12 | 9 |
| 2 | Canada | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | +6 | 6 |
| 3 | Finland | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | −6 | 2 |
| 4 | Russia | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | −12 | 1 |
| Group B | ||||||||
| 1 | Sweden | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | +4 | 7 |
| 2 | Switzerland | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | +5 | 6 |
| 3 | Japan | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| 4 | Germany | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | −9 | 0 |
Day 3 Recap and Results
| A | United States | Russia | 9-2, United States |
| A | Canada | Finland | 6-2, Canada |
| B | Switzerland | Japan | 3-0, Switzerland |
| B | Germany | Sweden | 4-0, Sweden |
Three games in, the United States looks unstoppable at the Women's Hockey World Championships. Spurred by a hat trick from Jocelyne Lamoureux, the U.S. earned a 9-2 victory over Russia to complete a perfect trek through their group.
"We’re right where we want to be," Lamoureux said, per . "We’re the number one seed going into the playoff round, and we get an extra day off."
The United States plowed through Group A with ease, outscoring its opponents 17-5 without much effort. Hilary Knight, who added two goals and an assist against the overwhelmed Russians, finished group play tied with Swede Anna Borgqvist for the most points with seven. Brianna Decker, who had a goal and an assist, is in third place with six points.
The U.S. overall has three players who rank fourth or better in points scored. The United States receive a bye thanks to their goal differential and will play the winner of Sweden vs. Russia in the semifinals.
Canada, despite finishing second in Group A, will get the other bye after a 6-2 win over Finland. Natalie Spooner scored two goals and had an assist for the Canadians, who finished plus-six in goal differential.
"We knew they were going to be a tough team to play against," Spooner said, per Aykroyd. "They always clog the middle. They like to trap the center zone, and we knew coming into the game we were going to have to put up with that and try to break it down and get in their end and just get shots on net."
In the other group, Borgqvist's goal-scoring excellence helped push Sweden to take the top spot. The Swedes earned a 4-0 victory over Germany on Tuesday to clinch the group with seven points, as Borgqvist's three goals and assist were responsible for every point.
"I think I did a really good game, and so did the whole team," Borgqvist said, per Aykroyd.
Switzerland, which surprised Japan with a 3-0 triumph, took second place in Group B. The Swiss will play third-place Group A side Finland in the quarterfinals. Japan, which won its first two games, will not move on and instead play Germany in the relegation game.
“We had many chances and had a lot of opportunities on the power play but unfortunately we didn’t manage to score, that was the problem in tonight’s game. On the other side they scored twice after our mistakes,” Japan head coach Yoshifumi Fujisawa said, per Aykroyd.
Day 2 Recap and Results
| B | Switzerland | Sweden | 3-2, Sweden |
| B | Japan | Germany | 2-0, Japan |
| A | Canada | Russia | 4-0, Canada |
| A | United States | Finland | 4-1, USA |
After falling short against the USA to start, Canada rebounded in a big way on Day 2 with a 4-0 victory over Russia.
Caroline Ouellette scored the first of three goals for Canada in the first period, and helped set up the last one in the second period, when Marie-Philip Poulin lit the lamp. The Canadians outshot Russia 42-19, so there was little chance for their opponent to get back into the game.
It was still vital for 20-year-old Ann-Renee Desbiens to stand tall between the pipes, and it had to be encouraging to post a shutout in her maiden start.
Donna Spencer of The Canadian Press highlighted a great play from forward Jamie Lee Rattray that helped keep the clean sheet intact:
Laura Fontino, who also scored for Canada, praised Desbiens' efforts afterwards.
"She's a very calm goalie and for the defence, especially myself, I found that right off the bat she was really calm and plays the puck well," said Fortino, per The Canadian Press, via TSN.ca. "She handled every situation to the best of her ability today."
It will be key for Desbiens to build on her first performance if Canada is meant to have a chance at dethroning the reigning champion Americans.
The USA didn't slow down from its momentous opening victory over Canada, sticking it to Finland 4-1, winning the shots battle 53-12.
Susanna Tapini actually put Finland on top, scoring at 10:01 in the first period in an impressive opening stand from the massive underdogs. However, Hilary Knight responded for the Americans just 28 seconds later to mitigate the significance of such a promising start from Finland, and added a power play goal before the intermission.
Knight tossed in an assist for good measure to lead the United States' victorious charge. Brianna Decker assisted on the first three goals American goals.
To start off Day 2, the outcomes were a bit tighter in Group B. Host Sweden pulled out a 3-2 win over Switzerland to please the home fans. Things got interesting when the Swiss staged a late really and nearly overcame a three-goal deficit, but Sweden did just enough to hang on.
Switzerland goalie Florence Schelling remained confident despite the loss.
"We fought all game long, and we came back to make it 3-2 in the last seconds of the game," said Schelling, per the official website's Lucas Aykroyd. "That’s what counts, and that’s what we’re bringing into the next game [against Japan]."
Although not much had been expected out of Japan, they continued a strong start in Group B by notching a 2-0 win over Germany. Despite getting only 16 shots on goal, Japan made the most of the limited opportunities. Yurie Adachi found the net 5:27 into the contest, which proved to be the game winner.
With only a tie against Switzerland, Japan will advance to the quarterfinals. This would be quite a shocking development, considering Japan had won just two games in the world championships before this year (h/t Aykroyd).
While much of the attention will be on the USA and Canada rivalry, there's reason to believe Japan could continue making noise. On the other hand, they will have to contend with being in uncharted territory, playing a Switzerland team that really needs three points as well.
Day 1 Recap and Results
| B | Sweden | Japan | 4-3 (SO), Japan |
| B | Germany | Switzerland | 5-2, Switzerland |
| A | USA | Canada | 4-2, USA |
| A | Finland | Russia | 4 p.m. ET |
Although all eight teams were in action to open the 2015 Women's World Hockey Championships Saturday, there is no question that much of the focus was on the Group A clash between the United States and Canada.
Team USA and Canada are undoubtedly the two biggest rivals in women's hockey, and they have met in several massive games over the year. Their battle Saturday may very well have been a preview of the gold medal game, which could bode well for the United States moving forward.
The Americans got off to a hot start in the first period due largely to the fact that Canada got itself into trouble by taking penalties.
Canada was penalized four times in the opening stanza, and Team USA took advantage of a five-on-three power play just over four minutes into the game when Jocelyn Lamoureux scored a nifty goal, according to USA Hockey on Twitter:
Brianne Jenner equalized just over three minutes later for the Canadians, but the United States pulled ahead once again on a Kacey Bellamy power-play goal just under 12 minutes into the contest.
The USA power play struck once again with less than two minutes remaining in the period as Kendall Coyne scored to give the Americans a 3-1 advantage entering the first intermission.
It was a demoralizing period for Canada, but it was able to bounce back quickly as Jennifer Wakefield made it 3-2 less than a minute into the second period after going in all alone on goalie Jessie Vetter, per Donna Spencer of The Canadian Press:
The United States continued to carry the play after that, though, and they finally got a big insurance marker from dominant power forward Hilary Knight a little more than six minutes into the third period.
As pointed out by Bemidji State women's hockey announcer Kelly Jo Schultz, Knight made it look effortless:
That goal ultimately ensured Team USA's victory, and it was a huge marker for Knight personally as she shared her feelings regarding representing the United States prior to the start of the event, according to TeamUSA.org.
"I can't help but think how amazing it is to represent our country on the world stage. I believe this is my seventh world championship tournament! Yet throughout the years, the honor and privilege of wearing a USA Hockey jersey has never faded, and the responsibility and privilege of representing the United States is something that I carry with pride.
"
Knight certainly represented her country well, as did the rest of the team. There is no doubt that Canada helped the Americans out by taking penalties, but Team USA did a great job drawing those penalties too.
The United States was dominant in out-shooting Canada 34-11, and it has to be considered the favorite to win gold after such a convincing performance.
In the earlier games, both Japan and Switzerland came away with victories, but they occurred in very different manners.
The Japanese team shocked host Sweden in the tournament-opening game as both Hanae Kubo and Chiho Osawa scored on Swedish goaltender Sara Grahn in the shootout to win 4-3.
Sweden was buoyed by a hat trick by Erika Grahm in regulation, but it simply wasn't enough to get past the scrappy Japanese team.
Switzerland, on the other hand, was in control throughout its game against Germany and ultimately prevailed 5-2.
The Germans actually out-shot Switzerland 30-24, but Swiss superstar goalie Florence Schelling made up for it by making 28 saves in a strong effort.
While getting off on the right foot can be key in these types of events, even the losing teams will have plenty of opportunities to rebound.
Getting out of the group stage is the most important thing because anything can happen in a single-elimination situation once the knockout rounds begin.
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