By Hockey Canada

SYDNEY, N.S. – Canada’s National Women’s Under-18 Team won the silver medal at the 2026 IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship, falling 2-0 to the United States at Centre 200 on Sunday.

It is the eight silver medal in history for Canada at U18 Women’s Worlds (2008, 2009, 2011, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2020, 2026).

Léa-Rose Charrois (Drummondville, QC/Saint-Laurent, RSEQ D2) was stellar in the Canadian goal, making 25 saves in her fourth start of the tournament. Charrois finished the tournament with a 1.26 goals-against average and a .928 save percentage.

“[The fans] mean so much to us, especially being on home ice. Having that crowd behind us was amazing. It is disappointing that we could not win gold for them,” said Canadian captain Hayley McDonald (East St. Paul, MB/RHA Kelowna, CSSHL). “It was an honour to have the trust and reliability that my teammates and coaches put on me [as captain] and I feel that the whole leadership did a really good job.”

The Canadians outshot the Americans 38-25 and successfully killed the lone penalty against. Kendall Doiron (Boylston, NS/Shattuck-St. Mary’s, USHS) was named Canada’s player of the game. A full game summary can be found here.

“We battled right to the end. We played a full 60-minutes and that is all that we could have asked for. Even though the results were not in our favour, I think our group did well and I am super proud of them,” said Doiron. “I learned a lot as a person and as a player. Even with a silver medal, I feel like I learned a lot more this week than what is around my neck.”

Following the game, Sofia Ismael (St. George, ON/Etobicoke, OWHA U22 Elite), Adrianna Milani (Oakville, ON/Etobicoke, OWHA U22 Elite) and Megan Mossey (Charlottetown, PE/Etobicoke, OWHA U22 Elite) were named to the media all-star team. Canada finished with 52 goals for—a single-tournament team record. 

“We had opportunities, but we did not bury the puck. I think that if we got one in, it could have changed the momentum, but we gave it everything we had,” said head coach Vicky Sunohara (Scarborough, ON/University of Toronto, OUA). “[The United States] is a really good team and they worked hard for a full 60-minutes; I cannot take anything away from them. Hopefully this young group will all learn from this, but it is pretty tough right now.”

Canada secured its spot in the gold medal game by finishing the preliminary round with a perfect record, defeating Switzerland (9-0), Hungary (14-0) and Sweden (9-2) before downing Finland in the quarterfinals (12-0) and Czechia in the semifinals (8-1).

For more information on Hockey Canada and Canada’s National Women’s Under-18 Team, please visit HockeyCanada.ca, or follow along through social media on Facebook, X, Instagram and TikTok, and by using #U18WomensWorlds.