Canada’s women’s Para hockey team advanced to the final at the Women’s World Challenge for the second straight year with a dominant 9-0 win over Great Britain on Saturday in Green Bay, Wisc.
Vanessa Racine scored a hat trick and Raphaëlle Tousignant continued her impressive play with two goals and an assist, repeating her performance from Friday’s 4-2 win over Team World.
The surging Canadians outshot the British 29-0, handing the fledgling team their third straight loss in the tournament. Great Britain launched its women’s Para hockey program in 2021.
Canada (2-1) will face the defending champion United States (3-0) in a rematch of last year’s final. The gold-medal game is set for Sunday at 4 p.m. ET, with live coverage available on the International Paralympic Committee’s YouTube channel.
The U.S. closed out round-robin play on Saturday with a 7-0 win over Team World (1-2), which consists of players from 12 countries.
The Americans blanked Canada 3-0 on Thursday before shutting out Great Britain 7-0 on Friday. They won last year’s inaugural edition of the tournament in Green Bay with a 5-1 victory over Canada.
Alyssa White added two goals for Canada in Saturday’s lopsided win, while Myriam Adam and captain Alanna Mah also found the back of the net. Canada set the tone early and led 6-0 after a 17-shot first period.
Susi Marguerite played the entire game in net for Great Britain. The British tightened things up defensively in the second and third periods, including three successful penalty kills, but they were ultimately unable to keep up with the experienced Canadians.
Great Britain will face Team World in the bronze-medal game on Sunday at 12 p.m. ET. Team World opened the tournament with a 5-1 win over Great Britain on Thursday.
Hosted by World Para Ice Hockey, the tournament serves as an important stepping stone toward establishing a women’s Para hockey world championship, with the ultimate goals of increasing female participation in the sport and having it added to the Paralympic program.
While Para hockey is technically a mixed sport at the Paralympic level, only three female players have ever competed at the Games.
Canada’s 19-player roster features 13 returning players from last year’s silver-medal squad, with Tara Chisholm back as head coach.
Source: CBC
