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

Julia Gosling scored a pair of goals to lead Team Canada to their second win of the Milano Cortina 2026 women’s hockey tournament.

Kristin O’Neill, Sarah Fillier and Laura Stacey also scored in Canada’s 5-1 win over Czechia on Monday at Milano Rho Arena. Goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens, making her first appearance in Milan, made 18 saves in the win.

Czechia’s lone goal came from Natálie Mlýnková in the third period when the game was already out of reach.

The victory improved Canada’s record to 2-0 in Group A play. The Canadians, who defeated Switzerland 4-0 in their tournament opener on Saturday, now turn their attention to Tuesday’s big showdown with the United States. Game time is 2:10 p.m. ET.

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

Tuesday’s contest was originally scheduled to be Canada’s final game of the preliminary round but that will now take place on Thursday at 8:30 a.m. ET against Finland. Canada and Finland were set to play on the tournament’s opening day but the game was postponed due to a norovirus outbreak impacting the Finnish team.

Thursday will be the final day of preliminary round play. Quarterfinals will take place Friday and Saturday followed by the semifinals on Monday, Feb. 16. The gold and bronze medal games will be held on Thursday, Feb. 19.

This was the first ever meeting between Canada and Czechia at an Olympic Winter Games. The Czechs set a physical tone and, unfortunately for Team Canada, resulted in Marie-Philip Poulin getting injured on a hit in the first period. The Canadian captain took one shift following the hit but quickly headed back to the bench in discomfort. She did not take another shift.

The loss of Poulin resulted in Canada juggling their line combinations for much of the night but it didn’t hurt the team’s offensive abilities too much. Canada outshot Czechia 34-19.

READ: Team Canada’s women’s Olympic hockey team revealed for Milano Cortina 2026

Canada’s penalty kill was busy early in the game. With 1:04 remaining in a Stacey tripping penalty, Renata Fast was called for an illegal hit to send the Czech’s to a lengthy five-on-three advantage. Czechia was buzzing on the power play and hit a post but could not open the scoring

Just after Czechia’s power play ended, play came back the other way where O’Neill put in the rebound of a Fast shot 5:44 into the first to give the Canadians a quick 1-0 advantage.

Fillier made it 2-0 Canada with 6:48 remaining in the opening frame. Sarah Nurse threw the puck on net where Fillier was parked in front and beat Czech netminder Julie Pejsova up high. Then, just 39 seconds later, Stacey beat Pejsova top corner to give the Canadians a 3-0 lead. Michaela Hesová took over goaltending duties for Czechia following the goal.

Late in the first, Canada went to a five-on-three power play for 1:01. With the extra space, Canada was able to pass the puck around with ease. After a shot was stopped in front of the net, the puck came loose to Gosling who scored to give Canada a 4-0 lead through 20 minutes.

Just 17 seconds into the middle frame, Brianne Jenner found an open Gosling in the slot who scored on a power play to make it 5-0.

Both teams had their chances in the second period, particularly on power plays. Shots were 13-5 in favour of Canada in the second.

Czechia got on the board with a power play goal 8:38 into the third period. After a shot was stopped in front, Mlýnková found the puck in a scramble and beat Desbiens to end Canada’s shutout bid.

Shots were just 9-4 in favour of Canada in the the third period.