USA bests Canada in round-robin clash at Women's Worlds

The United States held on in the third period to beat Canada 2-1 at the Women's Worlds on Sunday.

Defenders Lee Stecklein and Megan Keller found the back of the net for the Americans. Laura Stacey tallied Canada's lone goal in the third period.

Aerin Frankel made 18 saves in the U.S. crease, while Ann-Renee Desbiens stopped 26 shots in the losing effort.

The United States won 1-0 in overtime versus Canada last year in group play but ultimately lost to the Canadians in a gold-medal game thriller that ended 6-5 in overtime.

The nation that won the Canada-USA game in group play has lost the gold-medal game in three straight Women's Worlds.

USA secures the top seed in Group A with the win. The Americans will face the third seed from Group B in the quarterfinals. The U.S. finishes its round robin Tuesday against Switzerland.

Canada sits second in Group A and closes its group play schedule Monday versus the hosts, Czechia.

The crowd of 5,538 broke the cumulative tournament attendance record for a Women's World Championship hosted in Europe. A total of 56,026 fans have attended games so far, breaking the mark set at the 2019 Worlds in Finland.