🇺🇸 United States 14-0 Denmark 🇩🇰
Women’s World Championship Quarterfinal
KVIK Hockey Arena, Herning 🇩🇰
Friday, 13 November 2026

Team USA clinched their semifinal berth with a 14-0 win over Denmark. Haley Winn and Caroline Harvey picked up five points each.

“We were just excited for the medal round, the playoffs, and there was more jump in our step. We wanted to stick to our game plane for the full sixty, and I think we did that, no matter the score,” Winn said.

Emma-Sofie Nordström made 51 saves in the first two periods, and Caroline Bjergstad 20 saves for Denmark in the third.

The US outshot Denmark 85-8, and broke the single-game shots on goal record, 82, the 1997 US team set in 1997 in a 10-0 win over Sweden.

With its 100,000 female hockey players, the US is a women’s hockey superpower. In comparison, there are about 1,000 girls and women playing hockey in Denmark. In fact, there are more female hockey players in the US than there are people in Herning, the host city of the 2026 IIHF Women’s World Championship.

Twice as many, in fact.

With eight of the Danes playing in the second-tier Swedish league and another eight in the Danish league, it wasn’t a fair fight.

“It’s tough getting scored on 14 times, but we knew they were on a different level. It’s a good team, no, even more than that. Greatness. But I still stand here with a lot of pride,” Team Denmark captain Nicoline Jensen said.

Then again, in sports, most everything is possible if you have a plan, stick to it, and stick together. That’s how they qualified for the playoff stage.

The Danes had a plan. If only they could hold the Americans off the scoreboard, perhaps they’d get frustrated.

They stuck to it, and they stuck together — but the U.S. scored on their first shot of the game.

Hannah Bilka’s clever drop pass in the neutral zone fooled the Danish defense and sent Taylor Heise on a breakaway. She beat Nordström with a wrister to the stick side just 57 seconds into the game.

Just a minute and 23 seconds later, it was 2-0, thanks to a sneaky net-front tip by Casey O’Brien. And 30 seconds after that, Winn sidestepped a Danish defender in the high slot, fired a snapshot, and Kelly Pannek took care of the rebound to make it 3-0 at 2:50.

At 4:35, Alex Carpenter made it 4-0 from the doorstep, off a great cross-ice pass from Hilary Knight. Winn picked up her second point of the game when she fired another great shot from the point. This time, it rang off the crossbar on its way in at 7:54.

Team Denmark showcased the best of sports when they regrouped and gave their all, no matter what the score was.

Team USA started the second period on the power play. Harvey got the puck on the blue line and had all the time in the world to get to the slot and fire a laser top shelf to make it 6-0 at 1:31.

Straight off an offensive-zone faceoff, Lee Stecklein got the puck on the blue line, drove to the net, and found Bilka at the back door. She had an easy job of making it 7-0 at 8:54.

“We had some good team play out there. We had a lot of girls on the board, and we were sharing the puck out there. It was a great, dominant win by our group, and now we’ll turn the page,” Harvey said.

Number eight was just as pretty. A failed breakout pass by the Danes opened the lane for O’Brien, but instead of shooting, she sneaked a pass to her right, and Grace Zumwinkle slammed the puck into an empty net at 9:55.

Another 97 seconds later, Pannek could mohawk her way from the blue line to the front of the net, unchallenged, and make it 9-0.

Laila Edwards made it 10-0 with 12 seconds remaining in the second period. She moved towards the net, looking for a pass, but the Danish defenders split right in front of her, one by one, until she was all by herself in front of the net and could tap it in.

“Before the third period we talked about how this is a learning opportunity. Now our young players saw what it takes compete against the best in the world,” Jensen said.

Harvey made it 11-0 on the power play with a beautiful wrister from the slot at 5:51 of the third period. She had plenty of time to pick the top corner, leaving Bjergstad with no chance.

Winn scored her second of the game off a great feed from Joy Dunne from behind the net, at 8:18.

Jesse Compher scored her first goal of the tournament with a snap shot from up close to make it 13-0 with 7:45 remaining in the game.

With 1:56 remaining, Denmark was awarded a penalty shot after Nikita Bergmann was pulled down on a breakway. Jensen took the shot, but Gwyneth Philips got her glove on it.

Hayley Scamurra scored the Americans’ 14th goal from the doorstep with 6.3 seconds remaining.

BOXSCORE
1st Period
00:57 – 🇺🇸 GOAL – Heise (Bilka, Harvey)
02:20 – 🇺🇸 GOAL – O’Brien (Dunne, Winn)
02:50 – 🇺🇸 GOAL – Pannek (Winn, Zumwinkle)
04:35 – 🇺🇸 GOAL – Carpenter (Knight)
07:54 – 🇺🇸 GOAL – Winn (Harvey)
09:15 – 🇺🇸 PEN – Scamurra, interference
19:37 – 🇩🇰 PEN – Stauning, tripping

2nd Period
21:31 – 🇺🇸 PP GOAL – Harvey (Heise, Bilka)
28:54 – 🇺🇸 GOAL – Bilka (Heise, Stecklein)
29:55 – 🇺🇸 GOAL – Zumwinkle (O’Brien, Edwards)
31:32 – 🇺🇸 GOAL – Pannek (Harvey, Winn)
39:48 – 🇺🇸 GOAL – Edwards (Keller, Scamurra)

3rd Period
45:04 – 🇩🇰 PEN – Henriksen, body checking
45:51 – 🇺🇸 PP GOAL – Harvey (Heise)
48:18 – 🇺🇸 GOAL – Winn (Dunne)
48:40 – 🇺🇸 PEN – Harvey, slashing
52:15 – 🇺🇸 GOAL – Compher (Dunne, Pannek)
58:04 – 🇩🇰 PEN SHOT – Jensen missed
59:53 – 🇺🇸 GOAL – Scamurra (Pannek)

GOALTENDERS
W: 🇺🇸 Philips (8-8)
L: 🇩🇰 Nordström (51-61), Bjergstad (20-24)

SHOTS ON GOAL
🇺🇸 23+38+24 = 85
🇩🇰 3+2+3 = 8

ROSTERS
🇺🇸 Goaltenders: Aerin Frankel, Gwyneth Philips. Defence: Cayla Barnes, Laila Edwards, Rory Guilday, Caroline Harvey, Megan Keller (A), Lee Stecklein, Haley Winn. Forwards: Hannah Bilka, Alex Carpenter (A), Jesse Compher, Joy Dunne, Lacey Eden, Taylor Heise, Tessa Janecke, Hilary Knight (C), Abbey Murphy, Casey O’Brien, Kelly Pannek, Hayley Scamurra, Grace Zumwinkle.
🇩🇰 Goaltenders: Caroline Bjergstad, Emma-Sofie Nordström. Defence: Josephine Asperup (A), Freya Ekberg, Klara Holm, Olivia Ranum, Silja Rasmussen, Sofie Skott, Lærke Søndergaard. Forwards: Nikita Bergmann, Michele Brix, Teresa Christensen, Frederikke Foss, Silke Glud, Julie Henriksen, Nicoline Jensen (C), Frida Kielstrup, Alma Madsen-Mygdal, Julie Oksbjerg, Maria Peters, Sarah Stauning, Mille Sørensen (A).

Article Credit: 2026 Women’s World Championship
Photo Credit: 2026 Women’s World Championship – IIHF – HHOF – IOC