(Brampton) Aerin Frankel stopped all 18 shots she faced as the United States shut out Germany 3-0 to reach the semifinals of the World Women’s Hockey Championship.

Amanda Kessel, Hannah Bilka and Abbey Murphy scored the goals for the winners, who drove 52 shots into the net for Sandra Abstreiter, who made 49 saves.

This is the German defeat by the narrowest margin against the Americans.

The United States is trying to win the tournament for the first time since 2019. Canada was crowned in 2021 and 2022, but the tournament was canceled in 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Canada has won the competition 12 times, compared to nine for the United States.

Germany’s best result in the tournament is fourth place, in 2017.

Katerina Mrazova capped off her day with two points by scoring the game-winning goal for the Czech Republic, who beat Finland 2-1 to reach the tournament’s semi-finals

Czech goalkeeper Blanka Skodova blocked 41 of 42 shots she faced in the first quarter-final of the day at the CAA Centre. In the loss, his vis-à-vis Anni Keisala made 20 saves.

Finland’s Viivi Vainikka opened the scoring 15:18 from the first, but the Czech Republic responded with two goals in the second, from Natalie Mlynkova and Mrazova.

This is the fourth consecutive edition that Czech and Finns will meet in the quarter-finals of the World Cup. This is a second consecutive victory for the Czech Republic.

The team lost 10-1 to the United States in the semi-finals last year, but won the small final 4-2 against Switzerland.

Finland won the bronze medal at the Beijing Games last year.

The other quarter-finals will oppose Sweden to Canada, as well as Japan to Switzerland.