Getty Kendall Coyne Schofield scored for Team USA in their first game of the IIHF World Championships.
Team USA and Canada will meet in group play of the International Ice Hockey Federation Women’s World Championships on Saturday.
The game is scheduled to start at 12:30 p.m. ET and will be televised on NHL Network. If you don’t have cable, you can watch a live stream of the game on your computer, phone or streaming device by signing up for a free trial of Sling TV, the only live-TV streaming service that includes NHL Network.
NHL Network is included in the “Sports Extra” add-on, which can be added to either the “Sling Orange” or “Sling Blue” channel packages.
You can start a free 7-day trial of Sling TV right here, and you can then watch the game live on your computer via the Sling TV website, or on your phone (Android and iPhone supported), tablet, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, Xbox One or other streaming device via the Sling TV app.
If you can’t watch live, you can get 50 hours of cloud DVR storage as an additional add-on.
USA vs Canada Preview
Team USA and Canada have one of the most hotly contested rivalries in sports — they’ve met in the finals of all 18 IIHF World Championships and five of six Olympics.
The Canadians claimed the first eight IIHF World Championships, but the Americans have won the last four, and took gold at the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang, defeating their rivals in a shootout.
“Being able to win the last few world championships, the gold medal at the Olympics, is huge, it gives us a lot of confidence, but at the same time, it does put a target on our backs,” forward Hannah Brandt said, according to TeamUSA.org.
In that tilt, American forward Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson scored with 6:21 remaining in regulation to tie things up at 2-2 and force a fruitless 20 minutes of overtime.
Lamoureux-Davidson then scored her side’s final goal of the shootout before Team USA goalkeeper stopped Meghan Agosta to clinch gold.
“That was a dream come true,” forward Hilary Knight said, according to USA Hockey’s official website. “I remember jumping up and down on my couch in 1998 thinking I want to be just like them. To be able to do it 20 years later was surreal.”
Team USA Tops Finland
The Americans opened group play with a comeback victory over Finland. They entered the third period trailing 2-1, then poured in five unanswered goals from Melissa Samoskevich, Knight, Alex Carpenter, Brianna Decker, and Annie Pankowskito to win 6-2. Kendall Coyne Schofield scored for Team USA in the first period.
American goalkeeper Alex Rigsby turned 21 shots aside.
“It took us a while to get into our groove tonight, but I was really pleased with how we battled back in the third period,” head coach Bob Corkum said, according to the USA Hockey website. “Tonight was a great first test for us against a fantastic team and goaltender, and we’ll look forward to carrying this momentum into our next game against Canada.”
Canada Shuts Out Switzerland
The Canadians also won their first game of group play, taking down Switzerland 6-0.
They led 2-0 after two periods, outshooting their foes 18-2 in the second without a goal. After getting an earful from head coach Perry Pearn, Canada responded with four strikes in the final period.
“I might have players throwing water bottles at me pretty soon. To our players’ credit, they listened,” Pearn said, according to CBC.
“This is a great group of women because they’re looking for accountability and they’re OK with me being really honest with them from the accountability standpoint.
“As long as I’m fair and as long as I’m right in terms of holding them accountable for the right things, I think they’ll buy in.”