ČESKÉ BUDĚJOVICE — Canada was still a work in progress heading into playoffs at the women's world hockey championship, but its last period before the quarterfinals was a scoring bonanza.
The defending champions weathered host Czechia's stout challenge for two periods before a five-goal explosion in a 7-1 victory to cap Pool A on Monday.
Canada (3-1) finished second in the pool behind the United States (3-0), which had a game remaining in the preliminary round Tuesday against winless Switzerland.
In Thursday's quarterfinals, Canada faces Pool B's second seed to be determined by the Germany-Japan game Tuesday.
"We're in a good place. I'd like our play to be a little bit better than it has been, but I also have enough trust in the group that we'll find it and we'll figure it out," Canada's head coach Troy Ryan said. "Our details and some of our execution is not right now where we want it to be."
After a 2-1 loss to the Americans the previous night, some scoring depth surfaced for Canada on Monday with Kristin O'Neill generating her first two goals of the tournament and defender Sophie Jaques her first.
Canada had been leaning heavily on its top line of captain Marie-Philip Poulin — who scored her team's first two goals Monday — and Laura Stacey and Jennifer Gardiner for production in the tournament.
With the game tied 1-1 in the second period, Stacey, on her knees at the back boards, got a backhand pass away to Poulin to one-time for the go-ahead goal. Daryl Watts scored her second of the tournament and Gardiner her third in Monday's third period.
"As you go throughout a short-term competition, you want to find line combinations that are able to produce for you and it's great to see some players that have been playing the right way all tournament, but maybe not getting rewarded for it, finally getting rewarded for it," Canadian defender Renata Fast said.
Poulin reached a career 38 world championship goals, elevating her to second all-time by a Canadian behind Jayna Hefford's 40. Poulin's 85 career points ranked second to Hayley Wickenheiser's Canadian record 86.
Goaltender Kristen Campbell picked up her second win of the tournament and second world championship victory with an 18-save performance.
The Canadians went hard to the Czech net hunting rebounds and were rewarded, but paid a physical price early as the host country wasn't intimidated by the defending champions.
Galvanized by a raucous sellout of 5,859 at Budvar Arena, the Czechs engaged Canada up and down the ice before imploding in the third period in just the fourth meeting between the two countries at the world championship.
Czech goalie Klara Peslarova, of the PWHL's Boston Fleet, stopped 23 shots over the first two periods, but was chased from the game after Canada's three-goal burst in the span of 58 seconds in the third.
"It's the best we've played against them," said Czech coach and former Canadian defender Carla MacLeod. "Really loved the tenacity which we approached that game and there was just really no hesitation in our game.
"We were executing sort of the small little details that add up along the along the way. In the third there, obviously a couple quick ones just sort of put us back on our heels. It probably shows just a little bit of our inexperience still. We're still making a climb here."
The Czechs, winner of the tournament's bronze medals in 2022 and 2023, have nine PWHL players in their lineup behind Canada (23) and the United States (14).
The packed Budvar Arena was hot Monday and the Canadian players felt it.
"We're all sweating a lot," Fast said. "We've got to stay hydrated with the amount of liquid we're losing just from sweat."
The tournament's top five seeds in Pool A and the top three finishers in Pool B advance to Thursday's quarterfinals. The semifinals are Saturday followed by Sunday's medal games.
The U.S. will face Pool B's third seed. Pool B's winner Sweden (3-0) takes on Finland (2-2), while the Czechs versus the Swiss were the two quarterfinal matchups already set.
Canadian forward Julia Gosling played her first game of the tournament and Micah Zandee-Hart drew back into the lineup Monday. Natalie Spooner, Chloe Primerano and goaltender Eve Gascon were Canada's scratches.
The tournament's aggregate attendance of almost 70,000 was already the most at a women's world championship in Europe. It surpassed the 51,247 fans who attended all games in Espoo, Finland, in 2019.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 14, 2025.
Donna Spencer, The Canadian Press
