Morgan Stickney of Manhattan Beach made 21 saves for her second shutout in two games in the International Ice Hockey Federation Under-18 Women’s World Championship as the United States defeated Sweden, 3-0, in a preliminary round game Sunday at Vantaa, Finland.
Stickney helped the United States kill off four power-play opportunities, including a 5-on-3 opportunity for 57 seconds in the second period.
“Morgan Stickney is a winner,” U.S. coach Liz Keady Norton said. “She gives you a chance in every game. We gave up some Grade A chances, but she had our back. People are very confident in her ability. She’s young but she’s a warrior and an athlete.”
Stickney, who will turn 17 on Jan. 18, made four saves in the Americans’ tournament-opening 6-0 victory over Japan on Saturday.
“My team’s been playing super well in front of me, and it’s been a fun tournament so far,” Stickney said.
Stickney is the lone Californian on the 25-player roster, which consists of nine players from Massachusetts, four from Minnesota, two from Illinois and one each from Alaska, Kentucky, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Vermont.
Stickney is among seven players on the team from Shattuck-St. Mary’s School, an Episcopal boarding and day school in Faribault, Minnesota, known for its renowned boys’ and girls’ hockey programs, which have produced 47 NHL players, 35 in either the Professional Women’s Hockey League or defunct Premier Hockey Federation and 21 Olympians, including seven gold medalists
Stickney has made a non-binding commitment to play for Penn State, beginning with the 2026-27 season. She earlier played for the Los Angeles Junior Kings 13-and-under team and Los Angeles Lions 14-and-under team.
Christina Scalese opened the scoring 11 minutes, 45 seconds into Sunday’s second period, taking a pass from Caroline Averill, deking Swedish goaltender Maja Helge and pushed the puck into the net.
Evelyn Doyle scored a power-play goal 2:31 into the third period and Kylie Amelkovich, a Shattuck-St. Mary’s teammate of Stickney, added an empty-net goal with 22 seconds left.
The U.S. out-shot Sweden, 31-21, improving to 16-1-0-1 against the Swedes at the Under-18 Women’s World Championship, outscoring them 96-16.
Helge made 28 saves.
The Americans will conclude preliminary-round play Tuesday against Finland at 7 a.m. Pacific Standard Time in a game to be televised live by the NHL Network.