Aerin Frankel stopped 18 shots as the United States shut out Germany 3-0 in the women’s world hockey championship quarterfinals Thursday afternoon.
Amanda Kessel, Hannah Bilka and Abbey Murphy each scored a goal as the Americans booked a spot in the semifinal.
German goaltender Sandra Abstreiter made 49 saves in Germany’s smallest margin of defeat to the Americans ever.
The U.S. will face Czechia in Saturday’s semifinals.
The Americans are looking to win the tournament for the first time since 2019 after losses to Canada in 2021 and 2022. The 2020 worlds were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The U.S. has nine women’s worlds titles to Canada’s 12. Germany’s best result at the tournament was a fourth-place finish in 2017.
—
CANADA 3, SWEDEN 2 (OT)
BRAMPTON, Ontario (AP) — Sarah Nurse scored at 4:26 of overtime and Canada dodged its biggest women’s hockey upset, beating Sweden 3-2 on Thursday night in the world championship quarterfinals.
After scoring in regulation, Nurse took a pass from Sarah Fillier and beat goalie Emma Soderberg with a high shot in the 3-on-3 overtime.
“Some days, you feel like you don’t have it,” Nurse said. “But today wasn’t one those days. It just felt like it was going to come. We just had faith in each other and our game plan.”
Sweden forced the extra period on Hilda Svensson’s goal with 9.2 seconds left in regulation.
“That was crazy,” Nurse said. “We all took a deep breath going in overtime.”
Earlier, Aerin Frankel made 18 saves for her first national-team shutout and the United States beat Germany 3-0, and the Czech Republic edged Finland 2-1. In the semifinals, the Americans will face the Czech Republic, and Canada will meet Switzerland — a 5-1 winner over Japan in the final quarterfinal.
Blayre Turnbull also scored for Canada. Emerance Maschmeyer made 12 saves after Ann-Renee Desbiens stopped 26 shots Monday in a 4-3 shootout victory over the United States in group play.
“This is probably one of the best teams that I’ve been on at managing the highs and lows,” Nurse said. “It’s something that we’ve talked about so many times. “Going into overtime, we knew that we had it.”
Lina Ljungblom also scored for Sweden, and Soderberg stopped 51 shots. Canada is 11-0 against Sweden in the tournament.
“We’re coming closer,” Swedish coach Ulf Lundberg said. “We’re working hard. … We’ve got to be proud. Canada is a really good team and we had a really good performance. The pressure was all on Canada.”
Canada has won 12 titles, three more than the United States.
In the United States’ victory, Amanda Kessel and Hannah Bilka scored power-play goals and Abbey Murphy connected short-handed. Sandra Abstreiter made 49 saves for Germany in its smallest margin of defeat against the Americans.
“Our special teams were strong today and we got the win we needed to advance to the next round,” U.S. coach John Wroblewski said. “The German goaltender was outstanding and obviously kept us to no even-strength goals, but it felt good for our team to perform well on special teams and earn the shutout.”
Kessel opened the scoring with 55.3 seconds left in the first period, beating Sandra Abstreiter off a rebound. Bilka made it 2-0 with 7:21 left in the second period on a one-timer from the right circle, and Murphy knocked in her own rebound then made it 3-0 with a short-handed goal at 7:56 of the third.
Natalie Mlynkova and Katerina Mrazova scored 49 seconds apart in the second period in the Czech Republic’s victory. Mlynkova tied it on a power play, with an assist from Mrazova, and Mrazova followed with the winner. Blanka Skodova made 41 saves.
Viivi Vainikka scored for Finland in the first period, and Anni Keisala made 20 saves.
In the finale, Rachel Enzler had two goals and an assist for Switzerland, and Lara Stadler had a goal and four assists.
SWITZERLAND 5 JAPAN 1
Rahel Enzler had two goals and an assist, Lara Stalder added a goal and four assists and Switzerland cruised to a 5-1 win over Japan in the world championship quarterfinals.
Alina Muller, with a goal and two assists, and Lara Christen provided the rest of the offence for Switzerland. Andrea Braendli made 27 saves.
Haruka Toko opened the game’s scoring 8:17 into the first period for Japan. Miyuu Masuhara allowed four goals on 19 shots before Riko Kawaguchi stopped 15-of-16 shots in 33:50 of relief.
Switzerland is set to face Canada in Saturday’s semifinals. The two met in the tournament’s opener, with Canada taking a 4-0 victory on April 5.
—
CZECHIA 2 FINLAND 1
Katerina Mrazova had two points, including the game-winning goal, as Czechia defeated Finland 2-1 on Thursday morning to advance to the semifinals.
Czech goaltender Blanka Skodova turned away 41-of-42 shots in the first quarterfinal of the day at the CAA Centre. Finnish netminder Anni Keisala made 20 saves in the outing.
Finland forward Viivi Vainikka opened the scoring at 15:18 of the first period, but Czechia replied with unanswered second-period goals from Natalie Mlynkova and Mrazova.
It’s the fourth straight time the Czechs and Finns have played in the women’s world hockey championship quarterfinal, and the second consecutive time Czechia has knocked Finland out of the tournament.
Czechia lost 10-1 to the United States in the semifinals last year, but defeated Switzerland 4-2 in the third-place game to earn a bronze medal.
Finland last made the semifinals in 2021, but won bronze at the Beijing Olympics last winter.
