Canada will defend its gold medal against the United States on Sunday as the 2026 IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship concludes at Centre 200 in Sydney, Nova Scotia.
Saturday night, the Canadians improved to a perfect 5-0 in Cape Breton with a 8-1 win over Czechia. It’s the second-straight win for Canada over the Czechs in the U18 semi-finals following their surprise 4-2 loss in 2024, when Czechia won silver.
Maddie McCullough, Laurie Aubin and Rachel Piggott paced Canada to an early three-goal lead. In the third period, Adrianna Milani added two more, McCullough got her second of the night, Sofia Ismael scored her seventh of the tournament and Piggott rounded out the scoring with her second of the game. In net, Lea-Rose Charrois earned her third win.
"It was a great team game, from our goalie to our forwards," said the Canadian forward McCullough, who scored twice and finished with five shots on goal. "It was great. Gotta bring it tomorrow now. Tomorrow is the big one. It's the gold medal, and it's the U.S., and in front of our crowd. We want to make them proud."
Lucie Sindelarova scored Czechia's only goal, shorthanded. Lili Chmelarova got her fifth start, but made way for Veronika Ortova after allowing three goals on Canada’s first six shots. Ortova had previously seen just 40 minutes of relief work in the Czechs’ 9-1 loss to the United States last Sunday.
"We are proud of our effort, but we made too many bad mistakes today and lost the game because of it," said Czech coach Dusan Andrasovsky. "I hope tomorrow we will play a little bit smarter. We took too many penalties, and the first period was the reason why we lost. We fought to come back, and I'm proud of them. But Canada is a great team, and we have to give them credit for the way they played."
With two more goals on Saturday, Milani has tied Caitlin Kraemer for the Canadian record of 10 goals in one tournament. And with a goal and three assists, Ismael is now up to 15 points, one shy of Chloe Primerano's Canadian record of 16 points from 2024.
Canada's three best players in the tournament were named after Saturday's game: forwards Rosalie Tremblay, Piggott and Hayley McDonald. Czechia's best players were the goalie Chmelarova and forwards Tereza Gildainova and Johanna Tischler.
Canada’s special teams helped spark the early offense. After Sindelarova took a charging penalty just 1:24 into the first period, Maddie McCullough needed only 42 seconds with the extra-player advantage to get her team its first tally of the game.
Aubin followed up at 4:46 with her third of the tournament, also on the power play. Back at 5-on-5, Piggott made it 3-0 just 26 seconds later, with her sixth goal in five games, ending Chmelarova's day.
Shots on goal were 14-8 after 20 minutes.
The Canadians thought they’d added to their lead at 8:28 of the second period, when Tremblay deflected a goal-mouth pass into the Czech net. After a review, the zone entry on the play was determined to be offside.
Two seconds later, the Czechs were awarded a power play, but didn't test Charrois. As the red-and-white-clad Cape Breton fans at Centre 200 waited to celebrate more goals in the scoreless second, they entertained themselves by doing the wave.
With 4:43 left to play in the middle frame, Canada came close again when McCullough drew iron from a sharp angle. In the last minute of the period, Ortova stopped her on a breakaway.
Canada's shot advantage grew to 26-12 through 40 minutes of play.
The home side started the third period on the power play once again. But the Czechs made things interesting when Sindelarova picked up a loose rebound and flipped it over Charrois to get on the board with a shorthanded tally.
It took just 55 seconds for Milani to respond with her team-leading ninth of the tournament, restoring Canada's three-goal lead while still on the power play. And she wasn't finished. Back at 5-on-5, Milani added her record-tying 10th just 1:13 later. Then, on yet another power play, McCullough added her second of the night with 4:59 gone in the third. Ismael and Piggott finished off the scoring with a pair of spectacular individual efforts at full strength.
"What was really positive was the energy on the bench," said Canada's coach, Vicky Sunohara. "You get scored on in a close game, but you don't hang your head down. They were supporting each other and it sparked some energy."
The final shots were 43-21 for the Canadians, who scored four of their eight goals on the power play.
With that, Sunday's medal-game rematches are set.
Canada and the U.S. have met 23 times in WW18 competition, with the Americans winning 13 times. Canada won the most recent meeting, 3-0, in the 2025 gold-medal game and will be looking to match the United States’ nine golds in tournament history with another win on Sunday.
The bronze-medal game is also a repeat meeting. In Vantaa in 2025, Czechia downed Sweden 2-1 to reach the podium. The two sides will meet again on Sunday afternoon in Sydney.
"Tomorrow is a new day," said Czech captain Julie Jebouskova. "We have to start preparing now and be ready for a new game. We can't be taking so many penalties. That's the main thing we talked about. So many PK's. We can't do that."
