The USA is the first country to the WC final in Utica. The home nation was superior to Finland and won the semi-final 5-0 in front of their home fans. Laila Edwards became the hero of the match with her hat-trick.

On Saturday evening, the USA and Finland played for a final place in the Women's Hockey World Cup 2024. The USA were big favorites before the semi-final meeting, but Finland has long shown that it has enough quality to put both the USA and Canada to the test.

But the semi-final was a one-sided story. The USA was completely superior on their home field in the Adirondack Bank Center as they dominated the match picture and shot statistics. After two periods, however, the USA “only” led 2-0 after firing 46 shots at Sanni Ahola in the Finnish goal, while Finland had only fired eight shots on goal in two periods. In the third period, however, Laila Edwards scored her second goal of the game to make it 3-0 to really bring her USA closer to the World Cup final on home soil. After six and a half minutes in the third period, Edwards had completed her hat trick and she was the leading figure of the match.

Over three periods, the Americans were outnumbered by Finland and they won fairly with 5-0 in the end, to secure the WC final against Canada or the Czech Republic tomorrow (Sunday, April 14) at 23:00 Swedish time. The shooting statistics ended 55-15 to the USA, which speaks volumes about the match picture.

Canada and the Czech Republic play their semi-final tonight at 01:00 (Swedish time) and the winners there will therefore be in the final tomorrow against the USA, while the losers will play for the bronze against Finland starting at 19:00 on Sunday, April 14.

Updated April 13, 2024