USA, Finland, Czechia advance to Women's Worlds semifinals

UTICA, N.Y. — Alex Carpenter had two goals and two assists, and the defending champion United States advanced to the world women's hockey championship semifinals with a 10-0 blowout win over Japan on Thursday night.

Abbey Murphy had two goals and an assist, while captain Hilary Knight had one goal and three assists.

Caroline Harvey, Tessa Janecke and Lacey Eden all pitched in with a goal and an assist.

Kirsten Simms and Joy Dunne also scored while Megan Keller and Kendall Coyne Schofield had two assists on an offence-filled night for the U.S.

“They’re learning on the job,” U.S. head coach John Wroblewski said. “Credit to our veterans, they showed up to play like they should and scored some big goals.”

Aerin Frankel made 14 saves for the shutout. Japan's Riko Kawaguchi stopped 27 of 33 shots before getting the hook. Miyuu Masuhara turned away 11 of 15 in relief.

Finland also moved on to the final four with a 3-1 win over Switzerland, while Czechia advanced with a 1-0 shutout of Germany. Canada took out Sweden with a 5-1 victory.

The U.S. will meet Finland in Saturday's semifinal. Canada plays Czechia for a spot in the final.

FINLAND 3 SWITZERLAND 1

Susanna Tapani scored the winning goal and added an assist as Finland beat Switzerland.

Tapani's deciding goal came at 16:34 of the second period when the PWHL Boston forward tipped a shot from Petra Nieminen past Swiss goaltender Andrea Braendli.

Nieminen and Nelli Laitinen also had a goal and an assist for Finland.

Ivana Wey scored 1:22 into the game for Switzerland, but the Finns dominated the rest of the way.

Sanni Ahola stopped 16 shots for Finland.

Braendli made 34 saves for Switzerland, which advanced to the quarterfinals as the fifth-place team in Group A after failing to get a win in the round robin.

CZECHIA 1 GERMANY 0

Daniela Pejsova scored with just over seven minutes remaining in regulation as Czechia advanced to the semifinals with a close win over Pool B winner Germany.

Czechia, coached by former Canadian team defender Carla MacLeod, was the tournament's bronze medallist the last two years.

Klara Peslarova made 16 saves to pick up the shutout for Czechia.

Sandra Abstrieter, who plays for Ottawa's PWHL team, stopped 23 shots for Germany.

Germany had a chance late when Czech and PWHL Minnesota forward Denisa Krizova was assessed a five-minute major and game misconduct for checking from behind with just under three minutes left to play, but Czechia held on for the win.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 11, 2024.