Women’s World Challenge: Team USA complete golden hat-trick

Team USA won gold for the third consecutive year at the World Para Ice Hockey Women’s World Challenge after wrapping up play on Monday (28 October) with an undefeated record. 

Outscoring their four opponents, 27-0, the U.S. has now won every edition of the event while Canada claimed a silver medal and Team Europe took the bronze in Skien, Norway.

The tournament was hosted by the Norwegian Ice Hockey Association at Skien Fritidspark, a multi-purpose stadium originally built in 1968 and redone in 2008, with teams playing four days of round-robin competition. 

In addition to the podium finishers, Great Britain and Team Pacific also took part. It marked the largest edition of the event in history as Team Europe and Team Pacific hit the international ice for the first time, having previously completed as a combined Team World.

The best players

Americans Madison Eberhard and Rachel Gruse led all skaters at the tournament with four goals apiece, while Kelsey DiClaudio had three for the U.S., including two goals and an assist in the final game against arch-rival Canada. Aubree Clements led the Canadian effort with four scores in four days, including a hat trick against Team Europe. 

In the closest match of the tournament, a 1-0 tightly contest victory by Great Britain over Team Pacific, it was Stacey Quirk who made the game-winning goal and had her shining moment. 

With the ultimate goal of expanding female participation in Para ice hockey worldwide, the event paved the way for ultimately creating a Women’s World Championships and one day adding the sport to the Paralympic Winter Games programme.

Over the past year, World Para Ice Hockey has achieved remarkable progress in increasing women's participation, with female representation rising from 0.01 per cent to 19 per cent.