Team Canada closes women’s hockey preliminary play with win over Finland

Team Canada is heading into the quarterfinals of the Milano Cortina 2026 women’s hockey tournament on a winning note.

Emily Clark netted a pair of goals while Jenn Gardiner, Daryl Watts and Kristin O’Neill also scored in Canada’s 5-0 win over Finland at Milano Rho Arena. The victory gives Canada a 3-1 record in preliminary round play, securing them second-place in Group A behind the undefeated United States.

All five teams in Group A, which also includes Finland, Czechia and Switzerland, automatically earned spots in the quarterfinals, which are set to take place Friday and Saturday. Canada will face Germany, who won three of their four games in Group B play, in the quarters on Saturday at 10:40 a.m. ET.

READ: Team Canada falls to United States as Olympic women’s hockey rivalry is renewed

Team Canada was coming off a 5-0 loss to the rival Americans, a game that saw them struggle in all areas of the ice. Against the Finns, the Canadians were able to limit dangerous scoring chances while creating more of their own, outshooting Finland 23-17. Goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens also bounced back from being pulled late in the game against the United States.

Gardiner opened the scoring with her first career Olympic goal with 4:48 remaining in the opening frame. The puck made its way into the slot area where Gardiner fired a hard shot top corner on Finnish netminder Sanni Ahola.

Finland was pressing a few minutes into the second period, forcing Desbiens to make a couple of nice stops. Emma Nuutinen had Finland’s best chance when she sped past Canada’s defenders only to be denied by the pad of the Canadian goaltender.

READ: Four-goal first period pushes Team Canada to women’s hockey win over Czechia

Emma Maltais then had a good chance for Canada, going in alone only to be denied by Ahola. A few minutes later, at 8:22, Sarah Fillier had the puck behind the net and found Watts in front, making it 2-0.

Just over two minutes later, O’Neill was at the top of the circle and fired a shot through a screen that beat Ahola, giving Canada a 3-0 advantage. The Canadians continued to create chances late in the period, outshooting the Finns 11-6 in the middle frame.

Clark scored her first of two third period goals just 1:22 in, beating Ahola on a wraparound. Then at 13:29, Laura Stacey drove to the net but lost the puck, allowing Clark to grab it in the slot and score to give Canada a 5-0 lead.

This result improved Team Canada to 8-0 all-time against Finland at the Olympic Winter Games. These two were supposed to play on the tournament’s opening day last week but the game was postponed due to a norovirus outbreak impacting a large portion of the Finnish roster.

READ: Team Canada defeats Switzerland in women’s hockey opener

Canada opened preliminary round play with a 4-0 win over Switzerland and followed that up with a 5-1 victory over Czechia. In that Czech game, captain Marie-Philip Poulin took a hit along the boards in the first period and was only able to play one more shift after that. She’s now missed the last two games with a lower body injury.

With Poulin out, veteran Brianne Jenner, who is playing in her fourth Olympic Winter Games, has worn the “C” for Canada.

Team Canada is looking to defend the gold they won at Beijing 2022. Canada has played in every gold medal game since women’s hockey debuted at the Olympic Winter Games at Nagano 1998, winning five golds and two silvers.