Jason La Rose
GAME NOTES: CANADA VS. FINLAND (NOV. 11)
Canada’s National Women’s Team goes in search of a perfect preliminary round Wednesday at the 2026 IIHF Women’s World Championship, facing off against Finland in its Group B finale at KVIK Hockey Arena.
Last Game
Canada made it back-to-back shutouts on back-to-backs days Monday, easing to a 10-0 win over host Denmark. Emma Maltais scored twice—the lone Canadian with a multi-goal effort—while Laura Stacey added a goal and two assists to lead an offence that got points from 18 different players. Kayle Osborne needed to make just six saves as the Canada piled up 74 shots on goal, its fourth-highest total ever in a Women’s Worlds game.
The Finns won their second in three tries on Tuesday, pulling away in the final 37 minutes to down Japan 8-2. Emma Nuutinen had a pair of goals, and Emmi Juusela and Sanni Vanhanen contributed a goal and two assists apiece for Finland, which scored the game’s final five goals after the Japanese cut their deficit to one very early in the second period.
Last Meeting
The Canadians and Finns met most recently in the prelims at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milan; Emily Clark scored a pair of third-period goals, Kristin O’Neill had a goal and an assist, and Stacey and Julia Gosling recorded two helpers apiece in support of Ann-Renée Desbiens, who earned a 17-save shutout in a 5-0 win for Canada.
At Women’s Worlds, the last clash came in the semifinals of the 2025 tournament, an 8-1 Canadian victory. Daryl Watts scored twice in that one, Claire Thompson had a goal and two assists, and Marie-Philip Poulin, Sarah Nurse and Danielle Serdachny each finished with a goal and a helper as Canada erased a first-minute deficit and returned to the gold medal game in Ceske Budejovice.
What to Watch
Kendall Cooper has not looked out of place at her first Women’s Worlds. The 24-year-old defender has scored in all three games and added a couple of assists to sit second in tournament scoring for blue-liners, trailing only American standout Caroline Harvey. The hot start has Cooper on the cusp of history; she has already equalled the Canadian record for goals by a defender in a world championship, pulling even with Renata Fast (2024), Meaghan Mikkelson (2011), Delaney Collins (2004), Correne Bredin (2001) and Geraldine Heaney (1999). Offence has never been a problem for the Burlington native, who finished her five-year NCAA career as the all-time leading scorer among defenders with Quinnipiac University (33-82—116 in 158 GP) and tied for the scoring lead among PWHL rookies on the back end last season with Minnesota (2-17—19 in 30 GP). She’ll make the move to the desert for her second pro campaign after she was one of the first two players signed by PWHL Las Vegas.
We’re going to put the spotlight on Jenni Hiirikoski here, if for no other reason than it might be one of the last opportunities to celebrate one of the greatest defenders in the history of the women’s game. While she may no longer be the player she was at her peak—the 39-year-old missed the 2025 Women’s Worlds, was held without a point in five games at Milano Cortina 2026 and has yet to find the scoresheet in Herning—this is a future Hockey Hall of Fame inductee we are talking about. Hiirikoski has been named Best Defender at the world championship on seven occasions (2009, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019), plus twice more at the Olympics (2014, 2018), is a four-time all-star and owns a silver medal and seven bronze across 17 Women’s Worlds appearances. She also remains productive at the club level, recording 419 points (110-309—419) in 345 career games in the Svenska Damhockeyligan (SDHL), the top women’s league in Sweden, and helping Luleå HF to six SDHL championships.
A Look Back
To say the Canadians and Finns have been frequent foes would be a little bit of an understatement; this is the 94th time the teams have faced off in international competition, with Canada owning 90 wins from the first 93 meetings.
Twelve of those 93 have come in the preliminary round at Women’s Worlds, and one came in Herning—in 2022, Canada opened the tournament with a 4-1 win thanks to goals from Nurse, Poulin, Mikkelson and Blayre Turnbull.
All-time record: Canada leads 90-2-1 Canada goals: 482 Finland goals: 116