Tessa Janecke lifted the U.S. to the women’s hockey world title over rival Canada, scoring the golden goal in a three-on-three overtime period.
Janecke beat Canadian goalie Ann-Renée Desbiens 17 minutes into the 20-minute period for a 4-3 win in Czechia on Sunday.
The golden goal by Tessa Janecke! 🔥🇺🇸🥇 #WomensWorlds #IIHF @usahockey pic.twitter.com/13UmWr3yGX
— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) April 20, 2025
Nine of the last 14 finals between the U.S. and Canada have gone to overtime between the Olympics and World Championships dating to 2011. Canada won last year’s world title in overtime.
Either the U.S. or Canada has won all 24 world titles. The rivals met in the final in 23 of the 24 editions dating to the first worlds in 1990.
In the third period Sunday, Canadian Sarah Fillier tied it at 3-3 with 5:48 left. That came nearly 10 minutes after a collision between U.S. goalie Aerin Frankel and Canadian forward Laura Stacey outside of the crease.
“I didn’t like the hit on Erin,” U.S. captain Hilary Knight said. “I thought it was unfortunate. Obviously, Erin does so much for us. You’ve seen her steal games on the world stage. You’ve seen her do it at the professional level, so I’m hoping that she’s OK.”
Stacey was given a two-minute penalty for charging.
Frankel was replaced by Gwyneth Philips, who all of a sudden was playing in an international knockout game for the first time. She responded by stopping 17 of 18 shots, including 10 in overtime.
“Shock and awe,” Philips said on TSN during the on-ice celebration.
Laura Stacey entre SOLIDEMENT en collision avec la gardienne américaine Aerin Frankel ! 😯#ChampionnatduMondedeHockeyFéminin pic.twitter.com/ry5SYNa47b
— RDS (@RDSca) April 20, 2025
Canada outshot the U.S. 47-30 overall.
“Honestly, it’s going to suck for a little bit,” Canada captain Marie-Philip Poulin said. “But I think, for us, we’re going to use that motivation to keep getting better.”
The U.S. goals in regulation came from Caroline Harvey, Abbey Murphy and Taylor Heise.
The U.S. went 7-0 at worlds, going undefeated for the first time since 2019. Canada had won four of the previous five Olympic or world titles, its most dominant stretch in the rivalry since the 2000s.
Now the U.S., with a world championship roster more than two years younger than Canada’s on average, will look to reclaim the Olympic title next February.
Canada won the 2022 Olympic final 3-2, after which the U.S. program underwent many changes.
John Wroblewski succeeded Joel Johnson as head coach, and several young players ascended.
Heise went from being cut from the 2022 Olympic team to MVP of the summer 2022 World Championship.
Harvey went from being the youngest player on the 2022 Olympic team (and playing the least of the team’s healthy skaters) to being named the best defender at worlds in 2023 and 2025.
Laila Edwards made her senior national team debut in November 2023 and was MVP of the 2024 World Championship.
The goalie Frankel, who didn’t make the 2022 Olympic team, started World Championship finals in 2023, 2024 and 2025.
Janecke, a Penn State junior, made her senior national team debut in December 2022.
