New England more than left its mark on the 2026 IIHF Under-18 Women's World Championship. Nine skaters with local ties helped lead Team USA to gold in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.
The U.S. shut out host Canada, 2-0, in Sunday's gold medal game. It marked Team USA's 10th gold medal overall and second in the last three seasons.
Emily Pohl and Lindsey Stepnowski (South Glastonbury, Conn.) each scored for the U.S., while Talla Hansen had two assists. Bianca Birrittieri pitched a 37-save shutout, earning Player of the Game honors.
Team USA, which earned silver in 2025, has medaled in all 18 editions of the tournament, reaching the gold medal game 17 times.
It capped off a perfect tournament for head coach Courtney Kennedy's (Woburn, Mass.) squad, which never trailed at any point en route to a 6-0-0 record and a 56-2 scoring margin. They also beat Sweden (9-1) in the semifinals and Hungary (9-0) in the quarterfinals after taking care of Finland (14-0), Czechia (9-1) and Slovakia (13-0) in group play.
Plenty of locals had standout showings in the tournament.
Shattuck St. Mary's standout Jane Daley (Medfield, Mass.) was named the tournament's most valuable player. She finished with 17 points and a record 12 goals in six games, leading the tournament in both categories.
The recent Ohio State commit earned a nod on the tournament All-Star team, alongside Phillips Andover senior Maggie Averill (Wayland, Mass.). Averill, a Princeton commit, captained the U.S. She led all defenders with six goals and 14 points.
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Averill earned her third straight medal after winning gold in 2024 and taking home silver in 2025. Lovell Academy's Annabelle Lovell (Hingham, Mass.) and Groton's Tina Scalese (West Boylston, Mass.) earned another medal after they were on last year's squad, along with Daley. Lovell and Scalese each had five points in this year's tournament. Scalese, a Princeton commit, had two goals and three assists. Lovell, a Minnesota commit, had three goals and two assists.
Lovell Academy defender Chyna Taylor was also on last year's silver-medal squad. The Wisconsin commit had 11 assists in six games during this year's tournament.
Stepnowski, a Harvard commit, also scored over a point per game. A senior at Loomis Chaffee, Stepnowski had six goals and nine points in six contests.
Nobles was well-represented between forwards Catherine McCool (West Roxbury, Mass.) and Lily Bromley (Carlisle, Mass.), as well as defender Ava Decourcey (Rockland, Mass.). McCool posted two assists in five games. Bromley had one goal in three games, and Decourcey had an assist in one game.
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Kennedy, the Boston Fleet's skills coach and a former assistant at Boston College, had plenty more local ties on her staff, including assistant coach Shelly Picard (Taunton, Mass.), an assistant at Princeton.
Kennedy's staff also included Providence College hockey operations coordinator Doug Ferry (Warwick, R.I.), Merrimack hockey ops coordinator Bryce Aldrich (Berwick, Maine) and Fleet sports dietician Amanda Feldman.
