ČESKÉ BUDĚJOVICE — Canada beat the United States in women's world hockey championship finals after dropping a preliminary-round game to the Americans two of the last three years.
The reverse occurred in 2023 when the U.S. took the title in Brampton, Ont., after falling to the host country in a pool game.
While Sunday's 2-1 loss to the U.S. stung, Canada prepared to regroup.
"Any time you lose, it just kind of gives you a little extra motivation, but also more opportunities to to learn," Canadian defender Jocelyne Larocque said. "We'll take the learner route."
The U.S. (3-0) secured first place in Pool A with a game remaining against Switzerland (0-2) on Tuesday. Canada (2-1) caps the preliminary round with a back-to-back when it meets the host Czechs (1-2) on Monday.
All five of the tournament's top five seeds in Pool A, and the top three finishers in Pool B, advance to Thursday's quarterfinals.
The U.S. made the most of a Canadian defensive gaffe in Sunday's second period and got back-end scoring from defenders Lee Stecklein and Megan Keller.
The Americans won several foot races to the puck and gave little time or space to Canada, which laboured to muster scoring chances from close range.
"One of our messages after the game was, we have to find a way to establish more net-front presence for the next game," said Canadian forward Blayre Turnbull. "I don't think we did a good enough job of that tonight.
"Luckily, we have some time here to clean things up, and I think we'll look to clean things up for our game tomorrow against the Czechs because we know they're going to push and they're hungry to beat us."
Canada's Laura Stacey scored in the third period on one of her two breakaway chances in the game in front of 5,538 at Arena Ceske Budejovice. Aerin Frankel stopped 18 shots in the U.S. net, while Canada's Ann-Renee Desbiens turned away 26 shots.
Canada defeated the U.S. 6-5 in overtime in last year's final after losing 1-0 in OT in the preliminary round in Utica, N.Y.
"We learned a little bit about ourselves tonight, but I think we learned a little bit about them as well," Canadian head coach Troy Ryan said. "Hopefully we can make the adjustments we need to make.
"My only point to them after was a little bit of sloppy execution. Instead of taking an extra fraction of a second to make a play, I thought we were just pushing a lot pucks. Just got to manage it a little bit better and bear down on some of the opportunities we do get."
The two countries have met in 22 of the 23 women's world championship finals dating back to 1990.
A moment of porous Canadian defence allowed Keller to skate the puck into four red jerseys and get a shot away that beat Desbiens glove side, and gave the U.S. a 2-0 lead heading into the third period.
"I would say a few people going for the puck and not the body," said Larocque, who attempted a poke check on Keller. "It made it hard for Ann to probably even see that shot get off. She apologized, but definitely wasn't her fault."
Stecklein returned to the U.S. squad for a ninth world championship after she took a break from the national team in 2023. The defender is in her second season with the PWHL's Minnesota Frost that won the league's inaugural Walter Cup last year.
"I wasn't sure what the PWHL would look like and what I wanted for myself and my future," Stecklein said. "I took the year to see how it was. I was still loving playing hockey and didn't want to be done. Lucky enough they were willing to take me back."
Kendall Coyne Schofield's assist on Stecklein's goal gave her a career 48 in world championships, which was one back of Canadian Hayley Wickenheiser's tournament record of 49. Canadian captain Marie-Philip Poulin's assist on Stacey's goal was her 47th.
The U.S. will meet Pool B's third seed in the quarterfinals. A win over Czechia would have Canada facing Pool B's second seed.
Third in Pool A faces Sweden (3-0), which clinched top spot in Pool B with Sunday's 2-0 blanking of Japan (2-1).
Finland (1-2) held down third and the Swiss were last in Pool A. Germany (1-1), Norway (1-2) and Hungary (0-3) ranked third to fifth in Pool B.
In an attempt to reduce lopsided scores, the IIHF began seeding the top countries in one pool and lower seeds in the other in 2012.
That resulted in two Canada-U.S. games per tournament every year except 2019, but the women's championship will revert to "snake" seeding of its pools in 2026.
Also, Hockey Canada announced Sunday that Sydney and Membertou, N.S., will host the 2026 world women's under-18 hockey championship in January.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 13, 2025.
Donna Spencer, The Canadian Press
