Eldridge Scores Twice as Canada Thumps Sweden 5-1 in Women's Worlds Opener

Photo: Canada in action during the Canada–US Rivalry Series in 2024 — Wikimedia Commons user Other_justin, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). File photo from an earlier tournament, not from Friday's game in Denmark.

Seven minutes. That is all it took for the new-look Team Canada to announce itself at the Women's Worlds. Jessie Eldridge tipped in a shot from the blue line, the red light went on, and a Canadian team full of fresh faces never looked back on the way to a 5-1 win over Sweden in Herning, Denmark, on Friday.

Eldridge finished with two goals and an assist, but the scoreline only tells half the story. This is the youngest Canadian team since 2013, average age 26, playing without injured captain Marie-Philip Poulin and without star forward Sarah Fillier, who is day-to-day with an upper-body injury and did not dress. Nine of Canada's 12 points on the night came from players who were not on the roster at the most recent Olympics. If anyone in Herning wondered whether the rebuild would hold up against a real opponent, Friday was a loud answer.

The goals came in a rush. Eldridge opened the scoring at 6:59 of the first, tipping home a Rosalie Tremblay shot, with Kendall Cooper picking up the other assist. Emily Clark made it 2-0 on the power play at 10:13. Rebecca Leslie, scoring her first goal at a Women's Worlds, made it 3-0 before the period ended. Cooper added a power-play goal of her own midway through the second — her first goal for the senior national team, in her debut at the tournament.

The kids did not just fill in — they drove it

Keep an eye on the names on the scoresheet, because this is the point of the whole exercise. Tremblay is 18 years old. Her assist on the opening goal was her first point with the senior national team. Cooper, also new to this stage, finished with a goal and an assist. Leslie's goal was her first at the Worlds. Eldridge herself had not played for the national team since 2022 — she earned her way back with a superb season for the PWHL champion Montréal Victoire, where she recently signed a two-year deal, and she played like someone who intends to stay.

Sweden's Hanna Thuvik pulled one back early in the third period, and for about a minute the game had a pulse again. Then Sweden took three penalties in quick succession, Eldridge buried a rebound at 13:44 of the third, and that was that. Canada outshot Sweden 41-14 — 27-7 through two periods — and three of the five goals came with the extra skater, on a night Sweden spent 41 minutes in the box. Ann-Renée Desbiens stopped 13 of the 14 shots she faced.

There was one odd sight for longtime viewers: Canada played in jerseys mandated by the IIHF, without the usual national logos. It did not seem to bother anyone on the ice.

What comes next

Canada sits top of Group B with three points, and the schedule now gets kinder before it gets harder. Japan is next, on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET, then Denmark on Monday, then Finland on Wednesday to close the preliminary round. The tournament runs to November 16 across Herning and Esbjerg, the first time it has ever been staged in November — moved so it no longer collides with PWHL training camps.

Friday was also the 84th meeting between these two countries. Canada now leads the all-time series 80-2-1, which tells you how routine this fixture usually is. What was not routine was the cast. The United States thumped Switzerland 7-0 in Esbjerg on the same day, so the familiar final is still the likeliest destination — but Canada's path there now runs through players like Eldridge, Cooper and Tremblay, not just the veterans. On Friday's evidence, that is not a problem. It might be the whole point.

Editor's note: the IIHF highlights above are the official tournament video. TSN's studio analysis of the game is linked in the sources below.

Sources

• Sportsnet (The Canadian Press) — "Eldridge has three points as Canada beats Sweden at women's worlds" (November 6, 2026)
• The Hockey News — "Canada's New Era Gets an Encouraging Start at Women's Worlds" (November 6, 2026)
• TSN — "Eldridge shines on top line as Canada's new-look team passes first test" (November 6, 2026)
• Provectus Media (The Canadian Press) — "Canada beats Sweden 5-1 to open 2026 IIHF Women's World Championship" (November 6, 2026)
• The IX Sports — "Czechia spoils Austria's debut at top division" (November 6, 2026; match detail)