HERNING, Denmark — Canada opened the 2026 IIHF Women's World Championship with a 5-1 win over Sweden on Friday.
Jessie Eldridge opened the scoring 6:59 into the first period, with Rosalie Tremblay and Kendall Cooper drawing the assists. Emily Clark made it 2-0 on the power play at 10:13, from Daryl Watts and Erin Ambrose, and Rebecca Leslie scored unassisted at 18:43 to send Canada into the intermission up 3-0.
Cooper added a power-play goal at 9:38 of the second period, set up by Eldridge — a goal and an assist each for the two of them. Canada outshot Sweden 27-7 through two periods. Ann-Renee Desbiens stopped all seven shots she faced, while Sweden's Ebba Svensson Traff made 23 saves.
Sweden forward Nicole Hall took a five-minute major and a game misconduct for slew-footing at 36:46 of the second period.
Sweden got on the board 2:37 into the third period, Hanna Thuvik scoring on the power play from Mira Jungaker and Jenna Raunio. Eldridge restored the four-goal margin with her second goal of the game, a power-play marker at 13:44 of the third from Caitlin Kraemer and Chloe Primerano.
Canada outshot Sweden 41-14, and the power play struck three times — Clark, Cooper and Eldridge — on a night Sweden took 41 penalty minutes. Desbiens finished with 13 saves, and Svensson Traff made 36 in the Swedish net.
The 10-team tournament runs Nov. 6-16 in Herning and Esbjerg, Denmark, in a new November slot in the international hockey calendar. Canada is based in Herning in Group B with Sweden, Finland, Japan and host Denmark, while Group A — the United States, Czechia, Switzerland, Germany and Austria — is based in Esbjerg.
The quarterfinals are Nov. 13, the semifinals are Nov. 15 and the bronze- and gold-medal games are Nov. 16 in Herning.
It is a new-look Canadian team. Renata Fast and Laura Stacey are the co-captains, Kori Cheverie is behind the bench at her first Women's Worlds as head coach, and seven players are at the tournament for the first time — Kendall Cooper, Caitlin Kraemer, Rebecca Leslie, Sara Manness, Hayley McDonald, Rosalie Tremblay and Sarah Wozniewicz.
The roster is the youngest Canada has iced at a Women's Worlds since 2013, and it includes 13 players who won silver at the Olympic Winter Games in February. Canada's most recent Women's Worlds gold medal came in 2024.
Friday's game was the 84th meeting between Canada and Sweden, a series Canada leads 80-2-1 all-time.
Canada continues the preliminary round Sunday against Japan (12 p.m. ABT), meets Denmark on Monday (12 p.m. ABT) and closes the round Wednesday against Finland (8 a.m. ABT). Canada's games are on TSN.