2026 IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship Preview: Part IV

Pool B: Slovakia & USA

Congratulations! You've reached the final part of our 2026 IIHF U18 World Championship preview. Slovakia and the USA are two interesting teams who should be showing the most desperation for a medal this tournament. The storylines write themselves — or, I wish they did, because then I wouldn't have had to write up all this. Anyway, enjoy, and remember the players I mention in this piece when they go on to prove they can be stars.

Slovakia

You’ve made it this far into the previews and I’m feeling a bit of a kindred bond with you, reader — to the point where we can be honest with each other. And to be honest, I think I can put this out there: this is probably Slovakia’s last and best chance at an IIHF U18 World Championship medal for awhile, right? Since joining the top division of the U18 World Championship in 2020, Slovakia has either been in relegation games or barely missed the relegation cut off, only to get thoroughly beat in the quarterfinals.

This is despite Nela Lopušanová being a two-time U18 Worlds Most Valuable Player. You’d think with two performances that were given MVP honours Slovakia would have competed for a medal already, but here they sit with nothing and facing their best opportunity at a medal. This is Lopušanová’s final tournament at the U18 level before she ages out next season, and unless there’s another Lopušanová right after her, Slovakia hasn’t shown the depth necessary to keep up these results without her. So, before facing possible relegation until the next Lopušanová shows up at the 2027 U18 Worlds, Slovakia should be extremely motivated to make the most of this opportunity.

Forwards

When it comes to scoring, Slovakia can most certainly rely on two-time U18 Worlds MVP Lopušanová to deliver on the score sheet. In 15 career U18 Worlds games, Lopušanová has amassed 26 points for fifth all-time in U18 Worlds points. With Kendall Coyne Schofield holding the all-time record at 33 points, the record is very much in reach for Lopušanová. Coming into this tournament in her U18 season after three years of being underaged, the expectations will naturally be very high, and she definitely has the skill to handle those expectations.

It would really be the swan song to an impressive U18 international career for Lopušanová if she’s able to get them over the hump of the quarterfinals and into the semi-finals. It’s not going to be an easy group to do it against, though, as they’ll have to face the USA, Czechia, and Finland. As we’ve seen in the past, Lopušanová can’t do everything alone. She’s going to need support, and maybe it actually is the next Lopušanová who does it: Lucia Lipčáková. If you’re wondering if it’s kind of crazy that a 14-year-old is being named as one of the next best offensive players on Slovakia, I will confirm: it is kind of crazy.

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However, Lipčáková gives hope because she’s on the Lopušanová path, playing U16 Slovakian boys hockey and second on her team in points with 24 points in 15 games. Another interesting player is Lenka Karkošková. She was fourth on the 2025 U18 Slovakian Worlds team in shots on goal and this year has seen a bit of breakout with HK PSRZ Bratislava of the European Women’s Hockey League, putting up five goals in nine games. Two last names to keep an eye on: Alexandra Hirjaková, who is having a breakout season in the Slovakian women’s league, and Alica Juríková, playing tier two U18 Slovakian men’s hockey.

Defenders

Now this is a very intriguing blueline. Not every nation is capable of having an elite hockey youth development program and it can serve the national team program for the best if those players go on to play outside of the country. That’s a big ask for anyone, let alone U18 players who aren’t even in college yet. Despite that, Slovakia has four blueliners on the roster that all play outside of Slovakia. Nikita Krištofíková plays in the league below the SDHL in Sweden for Södertälje SK and is in her second season playing in Sweden. Then there’s the three playing in Canada: Gréta Konrádová, Nina Čellárová, and Michaela Letaši.

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Playing out of Purcell Hockey Academy is the 5’ 7” blueliner Konrádová, who is excelling at the U16 level alongside Danish senior national team member Freya Ekberg with 23 points in 17 games. Nina Čellárová is in her first year of North American hockey and is having herself a year as well with the OHA Mavericks. While Čellárová has mostly played for the U18 AA team, in her brief stint at the U22 AA level Čellárová has three goals in four games. Last but certainly not least is Michaela Letaši. At the 2025 U18 Worlds, Letaši was third in average time on ice on the Slovakian blueline and the coaching staff is hoping her time with the OHA Mavericks program has her ready for the daunting task of playing big minutes again against the best Pool B has to offer.

Goalies

Unlike many of the other teams headed into this tournament, there’s really no questions in goal for Slovakia except the one everyone faces: how will those goalies play? Mariana Sumegová was the number one goalie for Slovakia at the 2025 U18 Worlds and posted a respectable 0.889 SV% in five games. That’s about what you expect from a goalie playing behind a team like Slovakia — no goalie was going to have a fun time. If Slovakia wants to actually play for a medal this time around, Sumegová needs to be better than a 0.889 SV% and steal a game. Slovakia isn’t on the level of Czechia or Sweden where you can just be good and let your team take care of the game.

Slovakia needs a game stealer, and if Sumegová isn’t it they’ll go to their next option of Zuzana Tomečková. Last tournament, Tomečková didn’t have a good time, taking two losses with a 0.692 SV%. Being a year older and most importantly having performed with HK PSRZ Bratislava out of the EWHL gives the Slovakian coaching staff hope that one of their goalies can steal a game or two. Tomečková has good numbers all around — she saw her Slovakian women’s league numbers improve to a 0.915 Save% and a 0.934 SV% in the EWHL.

Any other year where a team at the level of Slovakia doesn’t have a Lopušanová-level player, the expectation would be to not get relegated. But Slovakia does have Lopušanová, and in her last year of U18 Worlds eligibility, there is no better time than now for Slovakia to finally win a quarterfinal game and fight for a bronze medal. Maybe it’s unfair to the rest of the team for putting this kind of pressure on them, but sometimes you need that pressure to perform. They need to be hungry, desperate, and unrelenting. They need their depth to hold the line while their top line wins their minutes. Every time Lopušanová is on the ice she’s a threat to score, so make sure she always has a chance to tie the game or take the lead.

USA

The IIHF U18 World Championship for the USA has not been a fun time since coming back from COVID shutting down the world for a bit. From 2015 to 2020, the USA was on fire, winning five of six possible gold medals. Coming back from COVID in 2022 to 2025 the US has won a single gold medal in four tournaments, and that single gold medal came in 2024, after not having to play Canada.

When trying repeat as champions at the 2025 U18 Worlds they looked good as usual in the round robin, but once they got to the semifinals the cracks started to show. They narrowly got by Sweden 2-1 and were at a real risk of losing that game if Sweden had some finishers on the team. It wasn’t too surprising that when the USA finally met Canada for the first time since the 2023 U18 Worlds round robin, the USA were roundly outplayed. The US got off a total of 14 shots on goal and while the score was 3-0, it really wasn’t that close. Coming into Cape Breton, the USA is looking to show that the U18 Worlds doesn’t just belong to Canada.

Forwards

With Bella Fanale off to ripping up Hockey East of the NCAA, Team USA is looking for a new leading scorer and like with Canada, there’s many a candidate available to be that player. Now, curiously enough, the USA has decided not to bring back their second-highest point getter from the 2025 U18 Worlds in Mary Derrenbacher, who had 16 points in 12 career U18 Worlds games. With no Bella Fanale, Evelyn Doyle, or Mary Derrenbacher the USA will be looking first to Haley Box and Kylie Amelkovich to lead the way on forward.

They both played in the top six at the 2025 U18 Worlds, had three goals, and were top five in Team USA shots on goal. They’ll be in the top six again and most likely be given the first shot at running the top line. Box and Amelkovich are also both simply having great seasons. With the Etobicoke Dolphins of the Ontario Women’s Hockey League U22 AA, Box has 26 goals in 29 games, placing her second on the powerhouse team in goals. With Shattuck St. Mary's Prep, Amelkovich is having herself a year as well, leading the team in points with 38 points in 33 games.

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Shattuck St. Mary's Prep is sending another forward as well: Jane Daley. She’s having an excellent season with 15 goals, 33 points in only 19 games. Daley is third on the team in points despite having played 10-14 fewer games than her teammates. Like with Canada, we can keep going on about all the offensive firepower the USA is bringing, so I’ll just mention two names to finish us off: Bailey Rupp and Madelyn Kimbrel. Rupp is the only +20 goal scorer on her team and only one of three with +10 goals. Kimbrel is the only +10 and +20 goal scorer on her team. They’re used to scoring and doing all of the scoring.

Defenders

The USA brought a relatively young blueline to the 2025 U18 World Championship, and it has the potential to pay off in a big way for them at the 2026 U18 Worlds. They lost Megan Healy, who led the USA 2025 U18 Worlds blueline in ice time, but the next three of five ice time leaders are all back: Maggie Averill, Sloane Hartmetz, and Chyna Taylor. What’s even better is the two blueliners who led the team in shots on goal are back as well, with Hartmetz leading the way with 27 shots and Averill having quite a few of her own, putting 16 shots on goal.

Watch out for Hartmetz, who looks like she’s ready to be the premier offensive and puck moving blueliner for the USA, with the potential to be a game changer every game. Averill is going to wearing the C for the USA as their captain and going to be playing the Lee Stecklein role. Be very intimidating defensively, physically, and then put all of that 5’ 11” frame into bombs from the point. Then there’s Kentucky’s Chyna Taylor who is putting up exceptional numbers with Lovell Academy U16 AAA with 70 points in 40 games. She’ll most likely be looked at to provide secondary offence behind Hartmetz. To round it out keep an eye on Mia Miller, who is second in blueliner scoring in Minnesota High School women’s hockey.

Goalies

Much to the dismay of the rest of the teams, the USA is bringing back Morgan Stickney, who had three straight shutouts to start the 2025 U18 Worlds and wasn’t scored on until the quarterfinal. It doesn’t look like she’ll be much easier to score on this time around, either — she’s once again putting up silly numbers with Shattuck St. Mary's Prep having a 0.942 SV% in 20 games. Coaches love a Stickney where they’ve played the previous tournament, looked great, and are back again to do even more damage.

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When it comes to backing up Stickney, who probably isn’t going to give up the net, barring something unfortunate happening, both Bianca Birrittieri and Cecilia Wielenberg are equally capable of taking the number two spot. Birrittieri maybe has the inside track due to her exceptional summer U18 training camp. She stopped all 42 shots in Team USA intra-squad games and made 49 saves on 52 shots when playing their three-game series versus Canada, earning the USA the best-of-three series win.

Despite the USA’s lack of success in recent years, the goal is simply to win it all. They have a great U18 program and don’t look like they’ve slowed down. Even if they don’t win this year, they still have the players to return next year. This will be a big test for new head coach Courtney Kennedy to have the team ready for every game, especially in a Pool containing Czechia, Finland, and Slovakia, with Sweden or Czechia most likely ready for them in the semifinal. The USA is looking for its next wave of stars and to regain control of the U18 World Championship.