MEMBERTOU, Nova Scotia – Maggie Averill (Wayland, Mass.) and Jane Daley (Medfield, Mass.) each tallied four points, including hat tricks, to help lift the U.S. Under-18 Women’s National Team to an 13-0 victory over Slovakia in the opening game of the 2026 IIHF Under-18 Women’s World Championship.
Kylie Amelkovich (Glen Ellyn, Ill.) added six assists in the game, setting a new IIHF single-game record for most assists in the tournament and tying the single-game point record at the tournament as well, while Morgan Stickney (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) posted a five-save shutout, the fourth of her Under-18 Women’s Worlds career, setting a new all-time tournament record for shutouts.
“I saw resilient effort throughout,” said Courtney Kennedy (Woburn, Mass.), head coach of the U.S. Under-18 Women’s National Team. “I was impressed with their ability to be detail oriented throughout the entire game. There are still things we need to work on, but I’m very proud for us on game one.”
HIGHLIGHTS
Team USA opened the contest scoring goals on the first two shots of the game. Less than a minute into the tournament, Maddy Kimbrel (Mound, Minn.) wristed a shot from the high slot past the blocker of the Slovakian goaltender to put the U.S. up 1-0.
Just 1:46 later, Daley tapped in a back-door power-play score, doubling the U.S. lead to 2-0. It was Daley again, with 12:28 remaining in the opening frame, for Team USA’s third, taking a pass from Amelkovich along the half wall and one-timing it into the back of the net from the high slot.
Annabelle Lovell (Hingham, Mass.) notched the fourth of the game 1:12 later, beating Zuzana Tomeckova with a clean rising shot to go up 4-0 midway through the first. Talla Hansen (Wayzata, Minn.) rounded out the first period with Team USA’s fifth goal with 14:22 left in the first.
In the opening minutes of the middle frame, the U.S. picked up where they left off as Christina Scalese (West Boylston, Mass.) tapped in a rebound from the slot for the sixth of the morning.
With 6:21 remaining in the second, Averill carried the puck into the offensive zone, taking it deep, before putting it away short side to extend the lead to 7-0. Averill put away her second of the game, eighth overall for Team USA, with 2:07 left in the middle stanza.
Hansen picked up her second of the game, Team USA’s ninth, 1:45 into the first and Scalese rounded out a perfect 10 five minutes into the final frame. Averill’s third brought the tally to 11-0, before Daley added her third and Lindsay Stepnowski (South Glastonbury, Conn.) to bring the final score to 13-0.
Stickney kept five shots out of the net for her sixth career IIHF Under-18 Women’s World Championship victory, tying the all-time U.S. record for wins at this tournament. The shutout, her fourth of her career, breaks the IIHF tournament record for most career shutouts.
Team USA is back in action tomorrow (Jan. 11) for its second preliminary round game of the 2026 IIHF Under-18 Women’s World Championship against Czechia. Puck drop is set for 5 p.m. ET and can be viewed live on NHL Network.
NOTES: Maggie Averill was named Team USA’s player of the game … The U.S. outshot Slovakia, 75-5 … The U.S. was 2-3 on the power play, while Slovakia was 0-4.
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