The Preliminary Round of the 2023 IIHF Women’s World Championship is officially in the books, with Thursday bringing a full slate of quarter-final matchups.
Thanks to Monday’s shootout thriller against Team USA, Canada finished atop the Group A standings and has the top seed entering the next stage of the tournament while over in Group B, Finland put up a perfect record on their quest to jump back into the medal conversation.
As tournament format indicates, all five teams in Group A automatically move on to the quarter-finals. The top three from Group B advance, taking on the best of Group A while fourth- and fifth-ranked clubs in Group A face off against one another. The bottom two teams in Group B, France and Hungary, did not advance.
As we look back on the preliminary performances and ahead to Thursday’s quarter-final matchups, we’re highlighting a notable statistic or two from each team that could help inform what we can expect from each squad on as they enter the win-or-go-home stage of the tournament. Teams are listed by matchup, with each nation’s group play win-loss record indicated in brackets.
Czechia vs. Finland | Thursday, 10 a.m. ET
Czechia (2-2, third in Group A): This year marked Czechia’s first ever time playing in Group A after their historic bronze medal finish last year. Picking up where they left off this year with a third-place finish following preliminary play, the squad leads all teams in penalty kill percentage with a perfect 100 per cent.
Finland (4-0, first in Group B): Finland has scored more goals (26) and let in the fewest against — just three — than any other team in the tournament. From their first outing (a 14-1 win over France) to their fourth, a 5-0 win over Hungary for their second shutout of the preliminary round, this squad has wasted no time showing us all why they believe they should be back in Group A. They also lead the tournament in shooting percentage, with 15.29 per cent of their shots going in.
United States vs. Germany | Thursday, 1:30 p.m. ET
United States (3-1, second in Group A): As every one of their Group A opponents can attest, Team USA isn’t afraid to get a little physical — and their punishing style of play hasn’t gone unnoticed by officials, who have issued a whopping 95 penalty minutes. That’s more than any other squad, and an average of 23:30 PIMs a game.
Germany (3-1, second in Group B): Starting goaltender Sandra Abstreiter has had herself a tournament so far, backstopping Germany to wins in all three of her starts — including a 28-save shutout against France. The 24-year-old has made more saves than any other goalie so far (95) and has registered a tournament-best .969 save percentage while her 1.00 goals-against average is the best among all netminders to have played at least three games.
Canada vs. Sweden | Thursday, 5 p.m. ET
Canada (4-0, first in Group A): The host team’s offence kept opposing goalies busier than any other squad, firing a tournament-topping 188 shots on goal. The goals didn’t exactly pour in, though, its 9.57 shooting percentage ranking second lowest in Group A. While we so often focus on Canada’s offence — shoutout to team leader in goals and points Sarah Fillier, whose four markers leads all Group A players — let’s focus on the other end of the rink. Canada’s defence has allowed just 67 shots through four games (the lowest total in Group A) and just four have resulted in goals — also a Group A best. Both starter Ann-Renee Desbiens (3-0) and backup Emerance Maschmeyer (1-0) have registered a shutout.
Sweden (2-2, third in Group B): Look at the tournament points leaders, and you’ll see a trio of Swedish forwards in the top three slots: Hanna Olsson (10 points), Lina Ljungblom and Hilda Svensson (nine each). Ljungblom has the tournament lead in goals (six) while Svensson, who’s just 16 years old, is wasting no time announcing her arrival on the international scene in her Swedish national team debut.
Switzerland vs. Japan | Thursday, 8:30 p.m.
Switzerland (1-3, fourth in Group A): The Swiss allowed seven shorthanded goals — the most among their Group A foes and second most among all-tournament teams (only France allowed more). Their 56.25 penalty kill percentage ranked worst in Group A.
Japan (0-4, fifth in Group A): We saw some impressive outings from their goaltenders, and defensively they’ve had their hands full facing top-tier teams like Canada and the USA. But Japan couldn’t keep up offensively, registering a tournament-low 63 shots and finishing preliminary play tied with Group B’s France for the fewest goals scored in the preliminary round, with five. Their best outing was their last of the preliminary round — a 4-3 loss to the Swiss, who just happen to also be their quarter-final foe.
COMMENTS
When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.