Whitefish’s McCarthy competes in U18 hockey world championships
15-year-old Finley McCarthy grew up playing hockey locally in Whitefish before taking her game to a higher level, including recently attending the 2021 USA Hockey Women's National Festival camp at the U18 level. (Whitney England/Whitefish Pilot)
The 2022 IIHF Under-18 Women's World Championship is taking place from June 6 through June 13, in Madison, Wisconsin. All games are to be broadcasted live on ESPN+ and a delayed showing on the NHL Network.
Finley McCarthy, who grew up playing hockey in Whitefish, is a forward on the U.S. U18 Women’s World Championship team. McCarthy has been pursuing her dream of playing hockey on the national level for several years and last summer she was invited to the National Festival for the U18 age group to try out for the team. McCarthy found out she made the team last October.
Team USA won in an exhibition round against Canada on Thursday, 3-1. The U.S. began the preliminary rounds of the World Championships on Monday and Tuesday, playing Sweden and Finland. On Thursday at 7 p.m. Mountain time, the U.S. U18 team will take on Canada in a preliminary round that will be broadcast on ESPN+. Locally, supporters of McCarthy are planning a watch party for the game against Canada at the Great Northern Bar. All are invited to join. There will also be watch parties at the Northern for the semifinal round on June 12 and the final on June 13.
The schedule of games is as follows:
Thursday, June 9 U.S. vs. Canada Preliminary Round 7 p.m. MST
Friday, June 10 Quarterfinal 1 3 p.m. MST; Quarterfinal 2 7 p.m. MST
Sunday, June 12 Semifinal 1 1:30 p.m. MST; Semifinal 2 5:30 p.m. MST
Monday, June 13 Bronze-Medal Game 2:30 p.m. MST; Gold-Medal Game 6:30 p.m. MST
The 2022 tournament was originally scheduled to take place in Linköping and Mjölby, Sweden. In late December of 2021, the IIHF announced that all January 2022 championships would be canceled, including the IIHF U18 Women's World Championship. It was recently rescheduled for Madison, Wisconsin.
To view the full schedule, broadcast networks and times and roster visit https://teamusa.usahockey.com/2022u18wwc