Canada's women's national ice hockey team are back in action as they concluded the first day of action at the IIHF Women's World Championships taking place right here in Brampton, Ontario.

How to watch: IIHF Women’s World Hockey Championships 2023
Full Canada and US broadcast schedule and tournament format for the 2023 IIHF Women’s World Championships in Brampton, ON.
PPP LeafsNafio

Nafio was present for France's tournament debut against Finland this morning, it ended up being a 14-1 win for the Finns as they vie for first in Group B. Meanwhile, yours truly got to the rink in time for Canada vs Switzerland, which ended with a score of 4-0 for the Canadians and several unpleasantries shared between them and their opponents. We both skipped the USA's 7-1 win over Japan in the other Group A game.

Canada's Highlights

Natalie Spooner, coming off the birth of her first child, opened the scoring for Canada with this shot from the slot. The Swiss were leading in shots up to this point as they opened the game strong, but it was all Canada from here on out.

Sarah Nurse scored on the power play as she relayed the puck from the point onward to the back of the net.

Rebecca Johnston made it three on the power play by getting to the rebound first from Rattray's shot.

Andrea Braendli was excellent in this game facing Canada's shots with good positioning and allowing few rebounds. It was a night where Canada took 49 shots and were legitimately spending minutes at a time in the offensive zone, circling around the tired Swiss defenders shift after shift. Braendli was the reason this wasn't a bigger blowout. What is disappointing is the Swiss's lack of pushback the other way when they did get chances. Alina Muller was a one-woman wrecking ball, trying to do it all herself offensively, but none of her teammates were up to the task to help her. You could tell she was frustrated by the lack of things going her team's way.

Sarah Fillier got her own rebound to seal the game in the third period. Last tournament she was always scoring one or two goals in the first period. The young star is starting this tournament with some resilience after a quiet first half of the game.

You can check out the boxscore here:

IIHF - CAN - SUI 05.04.2023 - 2023 IIHF WOMEN’S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP - Game Centre Lineup
CAN - SUI 05.04.2023 - 2023 IIHF WOMEN’S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP - Game Centre Lineup
IIHF International Ice Hockey Federation

Various Leafs and Branches

I saw these sticks in person, the designs are amazing. I wish I could get my hands on one.

Gorgeous!

You likely saw Meghan Duggan's speech to the Maple Leafs players ahead of their Pride Night. Here is an exclusive interview on how it came together.

How Meghan Duggan’s ‘powerful’ speech ahead of Maple Leafs Pride night came together
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The AthleticHailey Salvian

Hat Time!!! Topi Niemelä tied the game late to send the Marlies to overtime. The Marlies still lost in overtime, but Topi got them the extra point.

As a teacher, I know that it's always important to have leaders like Matthew Knies around to remind his classmates to go to class. Is Logan Cooley's nickname going to be Sunscreen now?

The Chicago Wolves, who've always complained that their players would get called up to the NHL, are trying once again to go fully independent without any NHL affiliation. Good luck to them, but there are a lot of costs that come with the benefit of autonomy with the roster. For example, enticing players to come without salaries going up wildly. Not having too many veterans who know their time in the NHL is over. And a lack of young ELC talent.

The Bruins can't activate Hall without putting someone expensive on LTIR. So they're just lying here.

From The BranchesWomen's Hockey