ČESKÉ BUDĚJOVICE — Jennifer Gardiner and Sarah Fillier each scored twice for Canada in a 9-1 quarterfinal win over Japan at the women’s world hockey championship Thursday.
Claire Thompson had a goal and two assists.
Julia Gosling, Emily Clark, Ella Shelton and Sophie Jaques also scored and Renata Fast had three assists for the defending champions.
Kristin Campbell stopped five of six shots for her third win of the tournament.
Mei Miura scored Japan’s first goal against Canada in nine meetings, while goalie Miyuu Masuhara was a workhorse stopping 53 shots.
Canada faces last year’s bronze medallist Finland and the U.S. meets host Czechia in Saturday’s semifinals. The medal games are Sunday.
The Canadians blanked Finland 5-0 to open the tournament with Campbell posting a 24-save shutout.
Czechia thumped Switzerland 7-0, the United States blanked Germany 3-0 and the Finns got by Sweden 3-2 in Thursday’s earlier quarterfinals.
Canadian captain Marie-Philip Poulin’s assist on Gosling’s goal was the 86th point of her career in world championships, which tied Hayley Wickenheiser’s Canadian record.
Poulin was also the fourth player to reach 200 career games for Canada after Wickenheiser, Jayna Hefford and current Canadian assistant coach Caroline Ouellette.
Gardiner scored her tournament-leading fifth, Fillier her second of the game, Clark her first of the tournament and Jaques her second all in the third period.
Miura scored Japan’s first goal against Canada at the midpoint of the second period.
Canada responded with three goals in 76 seconds starting with Shelton, Fillier with her first of the tournament and Gosling’s power-play goal to take a 5-1 lead into the third.
Canadian head coach Troy Ryan stirred his forward lines during the game with Daryl Watts drawing in for Gardiner with Poulin and Laura Stacey, Natalie Spooner joining Fillier and Sarah Nurse and Gardiner matched with Kristin O’Neill and Emma Maltais.
Gardiner zipped into the offensive zone and picked the top far corner of Japan’s net at 16:38 of the first period.
Thompson’s first world championship goal at 13:42 came in her 50th career game for Canada, although her two goals and 11 assists in Beijing’s 2022 Olympic Games was a tournament record by a defender.
The Japanese were minus one of their top players. Former PWHL Ottawa Charge forward Akane Shiga injured her left knee in her team’s preliminary-round finale against Germany and was removed from the ice on a stretcher.
Canadian forward Danielle Serdachny, defender Micah Zandee-Hart and goaltender Ann-Renee Desbiens didn’t didn’t dress for the quarterfinal.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 17, 2025.
Donna Spencer, The Canadian Press
