2025 Worlds Report Card: Canada

It's hard not to see Canada's silver medal at the 2025 Women's Worlds as a failure. But the rest of the tournament did give us a lot of good signs for the team going forward. Let's break it down.

What went wrong?

While there are other moments throughout the gold medal game that could have changed the outcome (e.g., scoring more goals, not letting the US get two quick goals in period 2, etc.), we need to talk about overtime.

While it is very normal for coaches to shorten their bench during big moments, the bench management for Team Canada during the overtime period should be considered just as responsible for the silver medal as Larocque's unfortunate turnover.

As is evident from the time on ice for this period, Canada deliberately did not play Jenner, Maltais, O'Neill, Serdachny, Gosling, Primerano, and Jaques. Gardiner had two game-winning goals over the tournament, while Serdachny had four points and the overtime winner in last year's tournament. Both Gardiner and Serdachny had already scored in the gold medal game. Maltais, O'Neill, and Jenner are proven veterans on the team with Olympic experience in high-stress games.

Hindsight is 20/20, but when you need to score a goal, it makes sense to have goal scorers on the ice.

Additionally, while the tournament showed that the veterans are showing up, with Poulin and Knight being two of the three highest scoring players, the US showed that youth is a big factor in winning games. Janecke, the golden goal scorer, is still in college. Canada's three scorers in the gold medal game were under the age of 24. Canada has to see if they can get younger going into the Olympics, or they risk being shown up again by the young guns.

Offense | A

Obviously, scoring more goals in the gold medal game would have gotten Canada the win; that's just how things work. But except for the gold medal game, across the tournament, that is exactly what they did.

In 2024, Canada was second in the tournament for scoring efficiency, and the team put up 27 goals on 305 shots. In 2025, Canada ranked first in scoring efficiency, firing home 37 goals on 280 shots. They also scored the most goals of the tournament, 10 more than the next closest team.

In the 2024 tournament, the three leading scorers of the tournament were from Team USA, but in 2025, two of the three were Canadians. Poulin led the tournament in points (12) and assists (8), while Gardiner, a rookie, led the tournament in goals (6).

The Canadian team was able to put up high-scoring performances against almost every team they faced, and they got some young gun scorers to support the veterans. Things are looking good for the Canadian offense as we head into the Olympics.

Defense | B+

It's hard not to think only about the defensive mishaps in overtime in the gold medal game, but Canada did have a strong defensive performance, especially from their top players. Fast, Shelton, and Thompson were strong offensively and defensively. The three put up a combined 19 points over seven games.

As a team, Canada's penalty kill improved from their 2024 numbers. This year, they put up a 93.75% penalty kill, good enough for second in this tournament, compared to the 90% last tournament that ranked them third.

They only allowed nine goals against over seven games, ranking them second in save percentage across the tournament. The US allowed six.

I would like to see some of the younger defenders like Primerano, Zandee-Hart, and Jaques getting more ice time, especially with the Olympics on the horizon.

Goaltending | A

I see Canada's goaltending as the most positive takeaway from this tournament. Firstly, it was great to see that Desbiens was healthy enough to play, especially in big games. Despite missing multiple PWHL games on the LTIR, Desbiens put up a 92.63 save percentage and a 1.64 goals-against average over four games at Worlds.

Secondly, and more importantly, was getting to see Kristen Campbell play, and play well, at this level. The three games she played in the tournament were her first in her career, and she had a great tournament. She faced 49 shots over three games, giving up two goals. Her save percentage was the highest in the tournament at 95.92%, and her goals against average was 0.67. All of this is very promising for a Canadian team that has exclusively run a tandem of Desbiens and Maschmeyer since 2020. Should they need to, the team now knows how Campbell would fare against international opponents.

MVPs

Jennifer Gardiner

I have to agree with the Canadian team in selecting Gardiner as one of the MVPs for the tournament. She has seriously impressed me this season in the PWHL, playing on the top line with legendary Canadians Marie-Philip Poulin and Laura Stacey. Gardiner continued her impressive ways as a rookie in this tournament, putting up a tournament-leading six goals. She also had two game-winning goals over the tournament.

The addition of Gardiner to the team was clearly a strong choice, and I look forward to her putting up even more impressive numbers in tournaments to come.

Renata Fast

While I often feel that saying Fast is the best defender in the world, as some do say, is overkill, she really did have a strong tournament for Team Canada. Her eight assists tied her for first in tournament helpers (with her teammate, Poulin) and led the tournament in points among defenders.

She lived up to her name, rushing the puck and contributing offensively to support Canada on their quest for gold.

Ultimately, I think Canada had a strong tournament, silver medal aside, but I hope the wake-up call against the Americans came early enough that the team brass can make some necessary changes before playing for what counts the most, Olympic gold.