Jason La Rose
GAME NOTES: CANADA VS. JAPAN (NOV. 8)
Looking to build off a tournament-opening win, Canada’s National Women’s Team returns to the ice Sunday at the 2026 IIHF Women’s World Championship, facing off against Japan in its second of four prelim games.
Last Game
Canada started strong in Herning, getting two goals and an assist from Jessie Eldridge as part of a 5-1 win over Sweden on Friday. Kendall Cooper added a goal—her first with Team Canada—and a helper, and Emily Clark and Rebecca Leslie (also with her first) rounded out the scoring. The Canadians did most of their damage on the power play, scoring three times on eight times with the player advantage.
The Japanese gave back an early two-goal lead in their opener against host Denmark, falling 3-2 in a shootout on Saturday night. Umeka Odaira provided all the offence with a pair of goals in the first period, while Miyuu Misuhara took the loss with 12 saves for Japan, which outshot the Danes 32-15.
Last Meeting
The most recent meeting between the Canadians and Japanese came at the most recent Women’s Worlds; Canada earned a comfortable 9-1 quarterfinal win at the 2025 tournament in Czechia thanks to three-point efforts from a pair of defenders—Claire Thompson (1-2—3) and Renata Fast (0-3—3). Jenn Gardiner and Sarah Fillier added a pair of goals apiece for the Canadians, who outshot Japan 62-6.
What to Watch
Eldridge waited four years to get back to another IIHF Women’s World Championship and she made that return count against the Swedes. The Barrie native—whose only other Women’s Worlds was also in Denmark—has already improved on her scoring totals from that 2022 tournament, when she posted a goal and an assist in seven games to help Canada win gold. A PWHL nomad, Eldridge will suit up for her fourth team in four seasons when the puck drops on the 2026-27 campaign after signing with the Walter Cup champion Montreal Victoire in the offseason. She finished last season—which she split between Seattle and Boston—as the second-leading Canadian scorer in the league, posting 14 goals and 23 points to finish in the top 10 of PWHL scoring for the second year in a row. Eldridge has actually scored all six of her National Women’s Team goals in Denmark—in addition to two goals Friday and one at the 2022 Women’s Worlds, she found the back of the net three times in two pre-tournament wins in 2022, scoring twice in a victory over the host Danes and netting the game-winner against the United States.
While the Canadians are icing one of their youngest lineups in more than a decade, the Japanese are YOUNG. Of the 23 players on the roster, only one—veteran defender Aoi Shiga (on July 4, 1999)—was born before the turn of the millenium. Odaira, the scoring star against Denmark, is the youngest of the bunch; she won’t turn 18 until Dec. 12, although she is far from an international rookie. She had nine points (4-5—9) in five games to help Japan win gold at the 2024 U18 Women’s Worlds 1A tournament just weeks after turning 15, and made her Women’s Worlds debut in Czechia in 2025, going pointless in five games. Already committed to the University of Maine for next season, Odaira is plying her trade in the OWHA U22 Elite League in Ontario this year, contributing eight goals and 12 points with the North York Storm.
A Look Back
This will be meeting No. 10 between Canada and Japan going all the way back to the inaugural Women’s Worlds in Ottawa in 1990. The Canadians have never lost to the Japanese and had held them without a goal until their quarterfinal meeting 19 months ago in Ceske Budejovice.
That first meeting 36 years ago produced a historic offensive output: Canada scored nine times in the first period of an 18-0 win—both of those are still Women’s Worlds records for most goals in a period and game. In all, 15 Canadians recorded points, led by hat tricks from Vicky Sunohara and Angela James, a four-point efforts from James (3-1—4), Heather Ginzel (2-2—4), Stacy Wilson (1-3—4) and Diane Michaud (0-4—4).
All-time record: Canada leads 9-0 Canada goals: 105 Japan goals: 1