Around the W: the Worlds field shows up missing pieces

The Women's Worlds start Friday in Denmark, and the field just showed its hand. The rosters are in, and the story isn't the two giants. It's how many of the teams chasing them walked in missing a piece. The bronze medal is more open than it's been in years.

Here's the field, five notes deep.

Canada's scare in Plymouth

Sarah Fillier won Game 1 of the pre-tournament set with the United States, then left Game 2 in the first period. She went awkwardly into the boards in a puck battle with Megan Keller and skated off favoring her right shoulder. Nobody has said yet whether she makes the trip to Denmark.

The W read: Canada can survive a lot of absences. A Fillier absence changes who runs the power play and who takes the big draws, and that's the kind of hole the Americans find.

Finland reloads without two pillars

Jenni Hiirikoski is still on the blue line and Michelle Karvinen, Susanna Tapani and Petra Nieminen are still up front. But Sini Karjalainen is out with a torn ACL and Anni Keisala retired after last season, so the crease belongs to Sanni Ahola, Emilia Kyrkkö and Kerttu Kuja-Halkola. Coach Tero Lehterä called the group "very hungry and very mobile."

Finland lost to Sweden and Czechia at the Euro Hockey Tour this week before beating Switzerland, and it opens against Denmark on Nov. 6.

The W read: Finland's medals have leaned on its goaltending for years. This is the first tournament in a long time where the goalie is the question, not the answer.

Czechia brings eight pros and leaves three home

The Czechs carry eight PWHL players, Kateřina Mrázová, Kristýna Kaltounková, Daniela Pejšová and Aneta Tejralová among them, with Klára Peslarová in a three-goalie group. Three more PWHL regulars are missing: Tereza Vanišová, Denisa Křížová and Dominika Lásková.

Brian Idalski, who said the team is "improving with every match," coaches Czechia and Syracuse. The Orange are 7-3-0 per the conference standings, second in Atlantic Hockey America, and the Worlds will pull their head coach away for part of November.

The W read: Czechia just beat Finland, and that's no fluke. Even without Vanišová, this roster is deep enough to medal.

Japan's teenagers, and one Hockey East commit

Akane Shiga, back in the PWHL with Detroit this season, leads Japan. Two teenagers playing in Ontario's OWHL made it too: forward Umeka Odaira, already committed to Maine for next season, and defender Kika Terauchi. Japan finished seventh at both the Olympics and the 2025 Worlds.

The W read: seventh is Japan's floor now, not its ceiling. Maine fans should watch Odaira's shifts closely, because Orono is getting a teenager who's already on a senior national team.

The hosts, and the draw

Herning and Esbjerg split the games from Nov. 6 to 16. Denmark drew Canada, Finland, Sweden and Japan, a group with no soft landing, and goalie Emma-Sofie Nordström, Denmark's first PWHL draft pick, heads to Hamilton's camp after the tournament.

The other group has the United States, Czechia and Switzerland, which already lost Lara Stalder before the rosters dropped. We had the Stalder news last week and the U.S. roster on Saturday.

The W read: Nordström is the one to watch in Herning. A hot goalie is the only way a host team gets out of that group, and she's the reason Denmark has a chance at all.

Meg's call: Czechia takes bronze. Finland's crease is too new, and the Czechs have the depth to survive a quarterfinal against anyone not named Canada or the United States.