Canada's women's Para hockey team to face U.S. for gold at World Challenge after dominant win

Canada's women's Para hockey team advanced to the final at the Women's World Challenge for the second straight year with a dominant 9-0 win over Great Britain on Saturday in Green Bay, Wisc.

Canadian forward Vanessa Racine scores hat trick in 9-0 victory over Great Britain

Zack Smart · CBC Sports · Posted: Sep 02, 2023 8:19 PM EDT | Last Updated: September 3, 2023

A women's Para hockey team poses for a team picture on the ice with their coaches standing behind then. — Canada's women's Para hockey team poses for picture ahead of the 2023 Women's World Challenge at the Cornerstone Community Center in Green Bay, Wisc. (@paraicehockey/X)

Canada's women's Para hockey team advanced to the final at the Women's World Challenge for the second straight year with a dominant 9-0 win over Great Britain on Saturday in Green Bay, Wisc.

Vanessa Racine scored a hat trick and Raphaëlle Tousignant continued her impressive play with two goals and an assist, repeating her performance from Friday's 4-2 win over Team World.

The surging Canadians outshot the British 29-0, handing the fledgling team their third straight loss in the tournament. Great Britain launched its women's Para hockey program in 2021.

Canada (2-1) will face the defending champion United States (3-0) in a rematch of last year's final. The gold-medal game is set for Sunday at 4 p.m. ET, with live coverage available on the International Paralympic Committee's YouTube channel.

The U.S. closed out round-robin play on Saturday with a 7-0 win over Team World (1-2), which consists of players from 11 countries.

The Americans blanked Canada 3-0 on Thursday before shutting out Great Britain 7-0 on Friday. They won last year's inaugural edition of the tournament in Green Bay with a 5-1 victory over Canada.

Tousignant leads Canada past Team World for 1st win at Para Ice Hockey Women's World Challenge

Canada blanked by U.S. in opening game at Para Ice Hockey Women's World Challenge

Alyssa White added two goals for Canada in Saturday's lopsided win, while Myriam Adam and captain Alanna Mah also found the back of the net. Canada set the tone early and led 6-0 after a 17-shot first period.

Susi Marguerite played the entire game in net for Great Britain. The British tightened things up defensively in the second and third periods, including three successful penalty kills, but they were ultimately unable to keep up with the experienced Canadians.

🇨🇦 <a href="https://twitter.com/CSHWT?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CSHWT</a>'s Alyssa White with her 2nd goal of the tournament! 🚨<br><br>🇨🇦 Team Canada have a healthy lead ahead of 🇬🇧 Team Great Britain as we enter the second period. 🏒<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ParaIceHockey?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ParaIceHockey</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WomensWorldChallenge23?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WomensWorldChallenge23</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/Citi?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Citi</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/ParaSport?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ParaSport</a>
—@paraicehockey

Great Britain will face Team World in the bronze-medal game on Sunday at 12 p.m. ET. Team World opened the tournament with a 5-1 win over Great Britain on Thursday.

Hosted by World Para Ice Hockey, the tournament serves as an important stepping stone toward establishing a women's Para hockey world championship, with the ultimate goals of increasing female participation in the sport and having it added to the Paralympic program.

While Para hockey is technically a mixed sport at the Paralympic level, only three female players have ever competed at the Games.