A Sold-Out Michigan Crowd Watched Team USA Beat Canada. Worlds Are Next

Team USA beat Canada 4-0 on Friday, Oct. 30, in front of a 3,504-person sellout crowd at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth, according to the Detroit Free Press.

The exhibition was a warmup for November’s 2026 IIHF Women’s World Championship in Denmark. It was also a rematch of February’s Olympic gold-medal game, which the U.S. won 2-1 in OT. The Detroit Free Press reported that Hilary Knight scored the late tying goal in that game and Michigander Megan Keller scored the winner.

Friday was the only US/Canada exhibition this year on American soil. Canada beat the U.S., 5-3, on Wednesday across the Detroit River in Windsor, Ontario.

Fans came from all over Michigan, including one who made a 113-mile trek from Kalamazoo. Fans told the Detroit Free Press they were excited to see Knight, and excited for her next team. The nation’s career Olympic leading scorer is set to suit up for the PWHL’s expansion team in Detroit, which begins play in December.

A Sterling Heights fan who plays hockey told the Detroit Free Press that “seeing a women’s team here, that girls can look up [to], is really huge.”

Now both teams head to Denmark, where they open the tournament on Nov. 6. The U.S. starts against Switzerland in Esbjerg, and Canada opens against Sweden in Herning. They are in different groups, so they will not meet again until the knockout stages, which begin on Nov. 13. If both win their groups and then win in the quarterfinals and semifinals, a potential gold-medal game is set for Herning on Nov. 16.

The Detroit Free Press noted that fans in Plymouth could be pretty sure they had seen the Worlds winner either way. In 24 iterations of Worlds, Canada has won 13 golds and the U.S. has 11.

Her take

In our view, a 4-0 exhibition win settles nothing, and Wednesday’s 5-3 result in Windsor makes the point. What these two games do show is how close this rivalry is. At 13 golds to 11, the history is nearly even, and we think every meeting feels like it could tip the balance.

The group games are worth watching, but Nov. 16 is the date we would circle, because that is where a rematch could land. Get the group chat together now, because if this one goes the distance, you will want company.

And keep an eye on Detroit. A sellout for an exhibition, with Knight headed to the new PWHL team there, which begins play in December, looks to us like a women’s hockey city in the making.