How to watch IIHF Women’s U-18 World Championship Semifinals – Sweden vs. USA, Finland vs. Canada | Channel, Stream, Preview
Only four countries remain at this year’s IIHF Women’s U-18 World Hockey Championship, including the two sports’ superpowers. They will look to punch their tickets to their gold medal match in the semi-finals which look the same on Saturday.
- Look at women’s hockey FuboTV (7 days free trial) and ESPN+
SWEDEN vs. USA
- When: Saturday, January 12
- Where: Östersund Arena (Östersund, Sweden)
- Time: 10 a.m. ET
- Channel: NHL Network
- Current: FuboTV (free trial), Sling, DirecTV Stream, ESPN+
Both semifinals are identical to how they were set up in Wisconsin last summer.
As usual, the Americans are a favorite to win in an international women’s hockey tournament. At U18, USA’s dominance is extremely evident. In the first 14 tournaments, they have made it to the gold medal game each time, winning gold eight times. This year’s team has the makings of another championship contender. Despite losing to Canada in their final group stage match, the Americans took the second seed in Group A, led by Wisconsin commit Maggie Scannell, who is tied for second in tournament points with seven points.
The Swedes look much better than the team that fell in the bronze medal game last year. While they lost their first two games in the tournament, Tre Kronor took their biggest win over Finland in their tournament history. It helped them take third place in Group A. In the quarter-finals against Slovakia, Jenna Raunio and Linnea Natt Och Dag each scored two points in a 6-1 win. If Sweden can pull off the run on Saturday, it would be the second time they would compete for a U18 championship.
The USA was able to take care of Sweden in the preliminary round, 6-3. In the semis last June, the Swedes battled the Americans, but the Red White & Blue came away with a 3-2 victory.
- Look at women’s hockey FuboTV (7 days free trial)
FINLAND vs. CANADA
- When: Saturday, January 12
- Where: Östersund Arena (Östersund, Sweden)
- Time: 2 p.m. ET
- Current: ESPN+
Unlike their gold medal victory last summer, Canada looks dominant heading into the semifinals. After their 3-1 victory over the United States in the preliminary round final, the Canadians took the top spot in Group A, tied with the Americans for the most goals in the opening three games (15). Minnesota-Duluth commit Caitlin Kraemer has been a scoring machine, finishing the group stage tied for the most goals in Sweden (6). Canada is trying to reach the championship game for the 14th time in U18 history.
Although they had a disappointing result in the group stage, Finland was able to take a semi-final spot for the fourth time in a row in WW18. They were the only team to go winless in Group A and finished with the worst goal difference of any country in this year’s tournament. But against the upstart Czech Republic in the quarters, Kerttu Kuja-Halkola was excellent in net, and goals late in regulation from Sanni Vanhanen and Pauliina Salonen pushed Finland to a 3-2 win. Suomi has never made it to the gold medal game in U-18 history.
In addition to Canada’s dominant 8-0 win over Finland on the tournament’s opening day, the Canadians edged Finland, 2-1, in last year’s semifinals en route to a seventh gold medal.
- Look at women’s hockey FuboTV (7 days free trial) and ESPN+