photo: Andre Ringuette/IIHF
We’ve played only seven games of the 2026 U18 Women’s Worlds and already there have been four hat tricks recorded. Over the first 16 tournaments, there were on average 3.6 three-goal games per tournament, so we’re ahead of that number already.
The women’s version of the U18 started in 2008, and a year later there were a record 13 hat-trick games, seven by the United States and four by Canada. There were six in both 2010 and 2012 and five in 2011 and 2024.
Of the 58 hat tricks to date in WW18 play, 22 have been scored by Americans, 13 by Canadians, five by Swiss and Slovaks, four by Swedes, three by Finns and Russians, two Germans, and one Czech.
Individually, Kendall Coyne Schofield (USA) has four hat tricks, including two, four-goal games. Nela Lopusanova now has three, including yesterday’s four goals, and five players have two career hat-trick games.
No player has ever scored five goals in a game, but eight players have four.
The Americans started this year’s WW18 by having two players register a hat trick in their opening 13-0 win over the Slovaks. Both Jane Daley and Maggie Averill had three goals, but this is just one of seven times two players have had three in the same game.
However, the greatest team hat-trick game of all time is surely the U.S. 18-0 win over the Czechs on January 9, 2009. In that game, four Americans recorded three-goal games—Alev Kelter, Brianna Decker, Kendall Coyne, and Madison Packer.
Another rare set of names is of players who scored the only three goals of the game for their team. This has happened only four times. Sanni Vanhanen did it on June 13, 2022, in a 3-0 Finland win over Sweden in the bronze-medal game. Another Finn, Emma Ekoluoma, did it on January 6, 2024, in a 3-2 win over Czechia.
As well, two Slovaks did it just last year, and these games were special for two other reasons. First, they were consecutive games. And, they were both losses, the only times of the 58 WW18 hat tricks that a player has scored all three of the team’s goals in a losing cause. Nela Lopusanova did it versus Czechia on January 5, 2025, and two days later Gabriela Lacna did it against the Swiss.
Only three times has a player recorded back-to-back hat tricks, all by Americans. Coyne did it in 2009, January 7 and 9; Haley Skarupa did it on December 31, 2011, and New Year’s Day 2012; and, just in the last two days Jane Daley did it against the Slovaks and Czechs.
Other quick facts. Seven times has a player had a hat-trick period, but only once has a player delivered a three-goal game in the gold-medal game—Canada’s Caitlin Kraemer in 2023.
This year's WW18 consists of 21 games, so there might well be another chapter to be written in the history of hat tricks at this tournament. But so far, it has been a lively event already.
The women’s version of the U18 started in 2008, and a year later there were a record 13 hat-trick games, seven by the United States and four by Canada. There were six in both 2010 and 2012 and five in 2011 and 2024.
Of the 58 hat tricks to date in WW18 play, 22 have been scored by Americans, 13 by Canadians, five by Swiss and Slovaks, four by Swedes, three by Finns and Russians, two Germans, and one Czech.
Individually, Kendall Coyne Schofield (USA) has four hat tricks, including two, four-goal games. Nela Lopusanova now has three, including yesterday’s four goals, and five players have two career hat-trick games.
No player has ever scored five goals in a game, but eight players have four.
The Americans started this year’s WW18 by having two players register a hat trick in their opening 13-0 win over the Slovaks. Both Jane Daley and Maggie Averill had three goals, but this is just one of seven times two players have had three in the same game.
However, the greatest team hat-trick game of all time is surely the U.S. 18-0 win over the Czechs on January 9, 2009. In that game, four Americans recorded three-goal games—Alev Kelter, Brianna Decker, Kendall Coyne, and Madison Packer.
Another rare set of names is of players who scored the only three goals of the game for their team. This has happened only four times. Sanni Vanhanen did it on June 13, 2022, in a 3-0 Finland win over Sweden in the bronze-medal game. Another Finn, Emma Ekoluoma, did it on January 6, 2024, in a 3-2 win over Czechia.
As well, two Slovaks did it just last year, and these games were special for two other reasons. First, they were consecutive games. And, they were both losses, the only times of the 58 WW18 hat tricks that a player has scored all three of the team’s goals in a losing cause. Nela Lopusanova did it versus Czechia on January 5, 2025, and two days later Gabriela Lacna did it against the Swiss.
Only three times has a player recorded back-to-back hat tricks, all by Americans. Coyne did it in 2009, January 7 and 9; Haley Skarupa did it on December 31, 2011, and New Year’s Day 2012; and, just in the last two days Jane Daley did it against the Slovaks and Czechs.
Other quick facts. Seven times has a player had a hat-trick period, but only once has a player delivered a three-goal game in the gold-medal game—Canada’s Caitlin Kraemer in 2023.
This year's WW18 consists of 21 games, so there might well be another chapter to be written in the history of hat tricks at this tournament. But so far, it has been a lively event already.