The U.S. women’s hockey team beat Germany 3-0 to reach the world championship semifinals in Brampton, Ontario, on Thursday. The Americans scored once in each period (Amanda Kessel, Hannah Bilka and Abbey Murphy). Aerin Frankel got the shutout for the U.S., which made the final of each of the previous 21 world championships dating to the first edition in 1990.
The U.S. faces the Czech Republic in Saturday’s semifinals, barring a Sweden upset of Canada in a later Thursday quarterfinal.
Frankel has been the breakout American through the tournament’s first five games. She made the last two worlds, but played just 20 minutes total as the third goalie, and didn’t make the Olympic team in between.
Now she’s the No. 1 for coach John Wroblewski, overtaking the three Olympians Alex Cavallini, Maddie Rooney (both cut in a tryout camp) and Nicole Hensley (No.