Fast, Stacey co-captain young Canada in first November women’s world championship

Canada aims to recover its game legs quickly in its quest for gold at the women’s world hockey championship.

The 2026 world championship in Herning and Esbjerg, Denmark, is the first to be held in November.

“Different for sure,” said Canadian defender Renata Fast. “Different approach to the season.”

Canada opens the 10-country tournament Friday against Sweden, whose domestic women’s league season started in September.

Three-quarters of Canada’s roster are Professional Women’s Hockey League players. The PWHL’s fourth season doesn’t start until Dec. 5.

“Peaking at this time is not as normal for our group,” Canadian head coach Kori Cheverie said. “There’s been challenges just in the sense of getting game play under our belts, getting execution where we want it to be, where it would normally be kind of mid-season or heading into playoffs.

“Day by day, our group is getting faster and faster and we’re increasing our execution level every single day and expecting those standards day to day.”

The International Ice Hockey Federation shifted the women’s tournament from its standard April time slot to November to avoid conflict with the PWHL and its training camps that start Nov. 18, two days after the world championship final.

Sweden, Finland, Switzerland and Czechia have already played in three international tournaments in the Euro Hockey Tour.

Women’s leagues in Germany, Switzerland and Finland were also well underway before the world championship.

Women who play in those leagues or in the NCAA arrived in Denmark with more game reps under their belts than PWHL players.

Canada split a pair of pre-tournament games with reigning world and Olympic champion United States in October.

Fast says October’s selection camp and practices heading into the world championship were hard and fast-paced to mimic game conditions.

“We’ve ramped things up earlier than we typically would in the off-season,” she said. “We’ve been able to come into this training camp and our camp in October with a really, really high level of intensity, so it kind of forced us to get right back into it, which is great.”

The 2026 women’s championship reverting to “snake seeding” in pools means archrivals Canada and the United States will not meet in a preliminary-round game for the first time in 15 years.

In an attempt to reduce lopsided scores in tournaments, the IIHF had seeded the world’s top countries in the same pool and lower seeds in the other after 2011.

The top four countries in each pool in Denmark advance to quarterfinals.

Canada, Finland, Sweden, Japan and host Denmark comprise Pool B.

Defending champion United States, Czechia, Switzerland, Germany and Austria are in Pool A.

Cheverie said Canadian forward Sarah Fillier’s status was day-to-day with an undisclosed injury.

“Right now we’re still working through that process with medical and getting her back to where she needs to be in order to play,” Cheverie said.

College forward Alexia Aubin travelled with the 25-player team to Denmark as insurance.

Canada’s team in Denmark is younger than the side that earned Olympic silver in February by over three years in average age.

The leadership group has also altered with the absence of longtime captain Marie-Philip Poulin (knee) and alternates Brianne Jenner and Jocelyne Larocque (not named to the team) and Blayre Turnbull (pregnancy).

Fast, the only player on the world roster that wore a letter in the Olympic Games, will co-captain Canada with Laura Stacey. Kristin O’Neill is their alternate.

“The leadership component is so important with the changeover of players and a lot of youth,” Fast said. “Then also, the national team, we always say, it’s made up of a group of leaders. You don’t get to this level without being a leader at some level.”

O’Neill, who will play for expansion San Jose in the PWHL, says a November championship can be a launching pad back into the league.

“It is just a very exciting way to start your own hockey season and I’m looking forward to seeing how it affects the start of my PWHL season,” she said.

Canada faces Japan on Sunday, host Denmark on Monday and Finland on Wednesday to conclude pool play.

Canada has won 13 gold medals in 24 women’s world championships, with the most recent in 2024.

The 2027 women’s championship will be held in Quebec City.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2026.

— With files from Gregory Strong.

Donna Spencer, The Canadian Press