Devilettes hoping to help Canada defend U18 title

With a 3-2 overtime win over Finland Saturday, Canada clinched a spot in Sunday’s gold medal match at the IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship. Can they defend their title from 2022? Five local Devilettes players could be the difference.

Emma Pais celebrates following a goal against the United States in preliminary action at the IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship. (Photo: Chris Tanouye/IIHF).

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It took overtime, but Team Canada fought hard Saturday to come away with a 3-2 win over Finland to earn a spot in Sunday’s gold medal game at the IIHF Under-18 Women’s World Championship.

And once again, the five local London Devilettes players on Canada’s roster delivered for the squad that will try Sunday to earn the country’s first back-to-back gold medals at the U18 tournament since 2013-14.

In fact, it was a trio of Devilettes teammates who got Canada on the board first. Emma Pais took a pass from Keira Hurry and snapped a point shot on net which Abby Stonehouse tipped in to give Canada a 1-0 lead at the 9:47 mark of the first period.

Soft touch in front of the net ✨#U18WomensWorlds pic.twitter.com/n0xBbZzW7e

— Hockey Canada (@HockeyCanada) January 14, 2023

“We had a bit of a London connection on that one. The three of us got to touch the puck, so that was really exciting,” Pais said by phone from Sweden following Saturday’s win.

It was a hard-fought victory – much different than the dominant 8-0 outcome Canada produced over Finland in their tournament opener in preliminary play. In fact, the Finnish side had the advantage late, thanks to stellar goaltending from Kerttu Kuja-Halkola – and goals from Sanni Vanhanen and Paulina Salonen.

Stonehouse’s tip-in was the lone goal in the first period. In the second, Vanhanen tied the game at the 10:56 mark. Then, just eight seconds into the third period, Salonen gave Finland a lead. Penalties hurt the Canadians all evening, as the team racked up 18 penalty minutes during the contest – compared to Finland’s two.

But Alex Law managed to find the back of the net 12:38 into the third period to tie things back up for Canada, who had to kill off two more penalties before the end of regulation. In overtime, it was Law again putting a puck on net that got lost in Kuja-Halkola’s pads and was inadvertently kicked into her own net for the deciding goal (it was credited to Ava Murphy).

“I had a pretty good seat to watch it. I didn’t know it went in right away, but once (I knew) it was just pure excitement,” said Pais. “The whole team came rushing off the ice and it was super exciting.

“It was tough, because we were down for most of the third. But Lawsy got that big (tying) goal, and from there we just stuck together, stuck to our habits and got it done. A little down to the wire, but we pulled together in the end.”

Team Canada captain (and London Devilette), Jocelyn Amos, watches the celebration after Canada’s 3-2 overtime win over Finland Saturday at the 2023 IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship in Östersund, Sweden. (Photo: Andrea Cardin/IIHF).

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Pais also assisted on the game-tying goal, continuing a fantastic tournament for the 17-year-old London Devilette, who now has six points in four games at the tournament.

Just as Finland gave Canada a run in the semis, so, too, did host Sweden against the United States. In fact, in a surprising twist, the home side pulled off the upset, 2-1 earlier Saturday, meaning that it’ll be the Swedes who Canada will play in the 2023 gold-medal game. It will mark the first time in the 15-year history of the tournament that the U.S. won’t play in the final.

“Sweden’s a really good team, so I think it’s going to be a really good game,” said Pais, whose Canadian squad beat the hosts 4-2 in their preliminary matchup Monday. “We have pretty evenly matched teams, so I think it will be a really exciting game. Our team’s going to come out hard and have our habits going right off the bat.”

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Each of the five London Devilettes players on Canada’s roster have enjoyed strong play during the tournament. Pais, whose aforementioned six points in four games have played a big role offensively, was named one of the team’s top 3 players by the IIHF. (“All the girls work so hard, so anyone could have been (named),” said Pais, “but it was definitely exciting and cool to hear that.”).

Abby Stonehouse tallied three points in three preliminary games, including a goal and an assist in Canada’s 8-0 win over Finland in preliminary play, and an assist against Sweden. Defender Keira Hurry, meanwhile, scored a goal against Finland in prelims, while Shelby Laidlaw also delivered strong play throughout round-robin action. Jocelyn Amos, the Devilettes’ top scorer in league play and team captain of Canada’s U18 squad, delivered some solid shifts Saturday after returning to action following two missed games due to injury.

Back home, the five certainly have their share of fans cheering them on – starting with their London Devilettes’ teammates and coaches.

“It’s really exciting. They’ve all worked hard. Every young girl has a dream one day to play on a stage like this, and these five players have achieved it,” Ted Brown, the Junior Devilettes’ head coach, told Gameday London. “They’ve all done well. They’ve all contributed to these games. It’s good to see.” 

Their teammates – and players throughout the Devilettes organization, which has players from as young as five years old to the U22 Junior team – cheered them on Saturday. It’s been a historic week, after all, as the program has never had as many as five players at one time competing for Canada at a world championship event.

“(The girls) are quite excited. A lot of these girls have grown up as Devilettes and come through the system,” said Brown. “And they’ve developed great friendships besides being teammates in hockey. Our players are cheering for them bigtime.”

Despite the big game Sunday, the show must go on back home, of course, and the Devilettes’ Junior team actually has a game at 4pm against the Cambridge Roadrunners at London Sports Park. In other words, they won’t be able to catch the entire gold-medal contest. If Canada wins, though? Expect cheering on the Devilettes’ bench – and throughout the arena.