Canada and USA to battle for historic gold in Dolny Kubin

Canada and USA will face off on Sunday in Dolny Kubin to crown the first-ever World Para Ice Hockey women’s world champions.

Both teams secured their spots in the final with dominant performances on Saturday in Slovakia. Canada cruised past Norway with a 7-0 win, while the United States triumphed 10-0 over Great Britain. 

Earlier in the day, Team World defeated Australia 9-0 in the opening match of Saturday’s programme at the Dolny Kubin Winter Stadium, claiming fifth place in the inaugural Women’s World Championships.

Norway and Great Britain will clash in the bronze medal game at 15:30 (local time), followed by the gold medal showdown at 19:00.

Both games will be streamed live on the Paralympics YouTube channel and the World Para Ice Hockey Facebook page.

Canada 7-0 Norway

Canada’s Raphaelle Tousignant opened the scoring against Norway just one minute into the game with a power-play goal. Alanna Mah extended the lead with a short-handed goal 7:45 later, and Alyssa White closed the first period with the first of her three goals.

White added another power-play goal in the second period and completed her hat-trick scoring Canada’s sixth goal. Sheena Darnley and Mah rounded out the scoring in the third.

“We came here to play the gold medal game and to win it. We can see our growth on each game, we have an amazing feeling, I’m so confident for this gold medal game and really proud of my team,” said Tousignant.

She added: “I’ve been reminding my teammates to enjoy every moment and not just worry about the outcome or be happy when you reach the final. Actually, enjoy every second we’re here because we’re writing history right now. It’s the first one and it’s just an amazing experience. I tried to remind myself to also do that.” 

Canadian Head Coach Tara Chisholm is focused on finishing strong in Slovakia:

“We will be looking at our own game, we have a mission and a goal in regard to what our team is challenging themselves with. Our goal is to get better every day, and Sunday is the last day and we want it to be our best day as a team.” 

Lera Doederlein is cooking tonight! 👩🏻‍🍳

A delicious sequence to lead the USA right to the doorstep of the final 🇺🇸#ParaIceHockey #DolnyKubin2025 pic.twitter.com/Q19qEezOFM

— Para Ice Hockey (@paraicehockey) August 30, 2025

USA 10-0 Great Britain

In the closing game of the day, Catherine Faherty needed only 16 seconds to put the USA ahead against Great Britain. Kaden Herchenroether, Madeleine Gallagher, Ailin Zheng and Kelsey DiClaudio, twice, gave their team a 6-0 lead in the first period.

USA scored two more goals in each of the following periods with Robynne Hill and and Lera Doederlein in the second, and Monica Quimby and Gallagher in the third.

After another impressive performance, Head Coach Rose Misiewicz said there is no special secret to her unbeaten team’s success.

“We like to come here and have fun. The girls like to rock it, to play their music, it’s like a family out here. We have to keep that spirit and atmosphere. That is the secret sauce

Three-time winner of the Women’s World Challenge, USA comes to the final as favourites. But that is just until the puck drops.

“USA-Canada is a big rivalry, we know it’s going to be a challenging game and we got out come out and be ready to that next level of hockey,” Misiewicz added.

U.S. forward Monica Quimby said the team is ready:

“We prepare every time, we look at game footage, we practice to make sure we’re hitting it hard both on and off the ice.”

Norway vs Great Britain for bronze

Norway will play just their fourth international game on Sunday, with a medal within reach.

Captain Lena Schroeder spoke about what a podium finish would mean: 

“Bringing home a medal helps the sport in general, helps to show that this team has a future, maybe we will have more players joining us, maybe more money, more support, which will make it easier to build the team. It’ll be a really important match for us.”

Head Coach Magnus Boegle echoed the sentiment:

“We’re prepared for the bronze medal game. That was our goal coming here, to play for a medal. It won’t be a problem to get the players pumped up for tomorrow.”

On the British side, Dani Czernuszka-Watts expressed confidence on their chances of taking a medal.

“I think it’s just going to be a great clash of countries. Norway will give us a lot of pressure, but I think we can equalise it. We’ve got amazing players too, we can give the pressure in the puck and I think if we play with our hearts we have a great chance of winning bronze. We have to believe in our hearts that we can do it”

Emotions and friendship - that’s the recipe of #ParaIceHockey 🙌#DolnyKubin2025 pic.twitter.com/K0QPVYfhib

— Para Ice Hockey (@paraicehockey) August 30, 2025

Team World 9-0 Australia

Hat-tricks from Japan’s Akari Fukunishi and Korea’s Soyoun Kim led Team World to their first win of the tournament. Latvia’s Dina Grinberga (twice) and Sweden’s Caroline Persson completed the 9-0 win over Australia. 

Aussie goaltender Erika Gosney made 24 saves in the game. 

Captain Grinberga was thrilled with the team’s achievement:

“This game was the highlight of the week. Every girl that came to Team World cares about hockey more than anything else in the world. They are willing to do everything to be here, work really hard, learn to understand each other and learn to work together to play as good as we can.”

Australia’s Sonya Newman reflected on their experience in Slovakia. 

“To see the spirit on the ice was incredible, the spirit of every woman here, it can get better than what we experienced. This is what we came for, and wow!”

Looking ahead, she added:

“We’re back, we’re bigger, we’re stronger. We have more than the 10 people we’ve been playing with. We have the right gear, the funding and the people to make it happen.”

Head Coach Dawn Watt said the team knows where to improve and is already thinking about the future.

“We’ve learned a lot by watching other teams practice and play, we now we’ve got the ability to play hockey, we now just need to get our individual skills higher: skating, shooting. The players understanding of the game was probably our biggest improvement.”

Complete scores and stats from the Women’s World Championships are available here.