The U.S. women’s hockey team is currently the number one ranked team in the world, after their impressive 10-0 victory over Japan on Thursday. With this win, they have secured a spot in the world championship semifinals in Utica, New York.
Two players who stood out during this game were Hilary Knight and Abbey Murphy, who both scored two goals each. Joy Dunne, the youngest player on the team at age 18, also made history by becoming the youngest U.S. woman to score at a world championship since Sarah Parsons in 2005.
Knight and Kendall Coyne Schofield both made significant strides during this game as well, moving into second place on the career world championship assists list. Knight already holds several records on her own, including the world championship records for career points (110) and goals (64). Goalkeeper Aerin Frankel was outstanding as she stopped all 14 shots by Japan.
The U.S. team is determined to defend their title and will face Finland, the 2022 Olympic bronze medalists, in Saturday’s semifinals. Meanwhile Canada will face Czechia in another semifinal matchup between teams that have taken world bronze for years now. The U.S and Canada have a longstanding rivalry in women’s hockey, having faced each other in 21 of the 22 world championship gold-medal games.
Last year at Brampton Ontario World Championship US emerged victorious with Knight scoring a hat trick against Canada in final matchup which set stage for another intense battle as US strives to retain their title once again
