Canada crushes Switzerland to reach semifinals at women's U-18 worlds

Sienna D'Alessandro scored two goals and Canada advanced to the semifinals of the world women's under-18 hockey championship with a 6-0 win over host Switzerland on Thursday.

Gracie Graham had a goal and two assists for Canada, while Maxine Cimoroni, Morgan Jackson and Caitlin Kraemer also scored in the quarterfinal showdown.

Chloe Primerano, who became the first defender to score a hat trick in Canada's 10-0 win over Finland on Tuesday, had three assists to give her a tournament-leading 12 points (five goals, seven assists).

Rhyah Stewart picked up the shutout for Canada, which outshot Switzerland 54-3.

Talina Benderer stopped 48 shots for Switzerland.

The semifinals are Saturday. Canada, looking for a third straight gold medal at the tournament, awaited news of its opponent pending the result of a late quarterfinal between the United States and Germany.

In other quarterfinal results, Czechia defeated Sweden 4-2 and Finland shut out Slovakia 2-0.