In a match where the teams like Czechs, Finns and Germany have shown the signs from start to end in the competitive space, the one marquee matchup remains the U.S.-Canada.
The last and the final will be held on Monday, a match of a physical, fast-paced, elimination match with the USA winning 1-0 with an overtime goal from Kirsten Simms.
Edwards joins Simms as one of four Americans competing for U.S. players in the tournament for the first time.
“She stepped up in a way that not a lot of people can. And I’m very proud of her,” Heise said, Edwards’ who set up the final two goals. “I’m happy that she was able to prove that to herself. Because when you’re young, and you get picked up by your team like this,and it takes a goal like that to prove to yourself that you’re here for a reason. But we all knew that before.”
The 6-foot-1 Edwards belongs to Cleveland and is the first-ever Black hockey player to make the U.S. national team. Coming to her sophomore season at Wisconsin, she is among the four Americans making their starts in the match and now has five goals to share and the tournament lead with teammate Alex Carpenter.
“It’s pretty good, I’d say,” Edwards said of her growing confidence. “Just confident in the team. So that always helps with the individual having confidence. When our team’s rolling and everyone’s performing their best and sharing the puck and just doing all sorts of things really helps in my confidence.”
Hannah Bilka and Savannah Harmon have scored for the Americans, they kept their perfect record and appeared in every world championship finals since the match was established in 1990.
The women’s hockey global powers have met in 21 of 22 world final tournaments, having the only one exception in the year 2019, when host Finland beat Canada in the semifinal before losing to the U.S. in a shootout 2-1.
The Americans have won a total of 10 world gold medals to Canada’s 12. The U.S. is 18-17 overall against Canada in match play, with both teams scoring 98 goals against. The Canadian team has an edge in Olympic play in having won five gold medals to the Americans’ two.