Canada advances to women’s U18 hockey worlds semis thanks to 12-0 win over Finland

SYDNEY — Adrianna Milani scored four goals to help lead Canada to the women’s under-18 world hockey championship semifinals with a 12-0 drubbing of Finland on Thursday.

Rachel Piggott, along with an assist, and Maddie McCullough, each scored two goals for Canada.

Hayley McDonald, Sofia Ismael, Rosalie Tremblay and Laurie Aubin provided the rest of the offence for the Canadians. Tremblay had two assists, Aubin three and Megan Mossey dished out four helpers in the win, while Rowan Houweling had a 10-save shutout.

“I thought we had a decent start. We have not been starting the last few games well, so we wanted to get pucks in deep early tonight,” Canada head coach Vicky Sunohara said.

“We want to play the way we feel we need to play to be successful in this tournament. Sometimes some teams will let us get away with things that other teams will not, so we are continuing to focus on ourselves.”

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Saimi Pesola allowed four goals on 11 shots before coming out around the halfway mark of the first period for Finland. Eerika Kujala made 48 saves while allowing eight goals in relief.

Canada will next face Czechia on Saturday for a chance to advance to Sunday’s gold-medal final.

“We are taking it one day at a time,” Milani said. “Today we were focused on the quarterfinals, and then we will flip the page and focus on the semifinals. (Czechia) is a hard, aggressive team and we will be ready to play against them. Sticking to our game will be the key to success.”

The Canadians are in search of their second straight gold and fourth title in five years.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 15, 2026.

The Canadian Press