U.S. Wins Hockey World Championships
The United States and Canada took the top two spots at the championship.
© David W Cerny/Reuters
Renata Fast of Canada (left) and Kendall Coyne (right) of the United States battle for the puck at the 2025 Women’s Hockey World Championship.
Which women’s ice hockey team will take the gold at the 2026 Winter Olympics? It’s set to be a showdown between the United States and Canada. The U.S. won the 2025 Women’s Hockey World Championship on April 20, defeating Canada 4–3. Throughout the game, both teams showed why they’re the best in the world.
Tess Janecke scored the winning goal for the U.S. with less than three minutes remaining in overtime. As cheers erupted, Janecke threw her stick into the air and hugged one of her teammates.
“Just shows how strong we are as a group and how much we can persevere through anything. I wouldn’t want to do it with any other group,” Janecke later told The Sports Network (TSN).
It was a close game. The U.S. scored the first two goals in the second period for a 2–0 lead, but Canada tied the game quickly with two goals of their own. The U.S. secured another goal in the third period, only to be matched by Canada for a score of 3–3. With a tie at the end of the third period, the match was forced into overtime.
“The margins for error are so small,” Canadian head coach Troy Ryan told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. “Multiple times in that overtime or even in the third, either [team] could have won it.”
© David W Cerny/Reuters
The U.S. team celebrates after winning the 2025 Women’s World Hockey Championship.
The United States and Canada have had the top two placements at the Women’s Hockey World Championship since 1990. No other nation has ever won the tournament in all that time. So far, Canada has 13 gold medals and the U.S. has 11.
Similarly, the two nations have battled it out for hockey gold at the Winter Olympics ever since women’s ice hockey became an Olympic event in 1998. Canada has won gold five times, while the U.S. has taken gold twice. Canada, the reigning Olympic champion, will defend its gold medal in 2026.
