Jordan Baxter first stint in a red and white sweater was stitched with gold.
The Coquitlam hockey product picked up two points, including a goal, in six games and maintained her team's offensive push in Wisconsin as Canada reclaimed its first under-18 women's world championship in three years.
On Monday night (June 13), they defeated the United States 3-2 in what was another momentous chapter in the historic rivalry.
This came several days after Baxter and company lost 7-0 to the host Americans in the final preliminary contest.
The 17-year-old helped Canada keep the puck on the right side of the ice in winning 67 per cent of her face-offs (8/12) in the final.
Her first international marker came in the quarterfinal against Slovakia — Canada ousted their opponents 7-0 to reach the semis and Baxter was able to cut in front to the net late in the third period to make it 6-0.
.@jordanbaxter05’s 1st goal at the 2022 IIHF #U18Worlds — a cut in front to the net from the left side — bolstered 🇨🇦 to a 7-0 quarterfinal win vs. 🇸🇰 today (June 10) & it’s the Coquitlam forward’s 2nd career international point | #CoquitlamBC @TriCityNews pic.twitter.com/7g4Gtmp65x
— Kyle Balzer (@KyleBalzer) June 11, 2022
The Tri-Cities Predators and Greater Vancouver Comets alumna's first point was an assist in Canada's 3-1 win over Sweden in their second game of the eight-team tournament.
Jordan Baxter got her 1st 🇨🇦 point after the Coquitlam product set up Rhea Hicks’ ultimate insurance marker in the opening period en route to a 3-1 win vs. 🇸🇪 — now 1-1 through 2 games at the 2022 IIHF #U18Worlds | #CoquitlamBC @TriCityNews pic.twitter.com/yH8QU0VpPP
— Kyle Balzer (@KyleBalzer) June 8, 2022
The Canadian women had to rally to earn their sixth under-18 worlds gold medal in its history after finishing round-robin play with a 1-2 record, which included the program's first-ever loss to Finland on opening day.
Overall, Baxter recorded 26 shots in six games, sat in the penalty box twice and posted a 43.83 average winning percentage in the face-off circle.
The Delta Hockey Academy student and Ohio State University commit waited two years to earn her first experience with the maple leaf as the tournament was affected by a cancellation and a delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The U-18 women's world championship was originally scheduled to take place in January in Sweden, before being postponed and moved.
The 2021 event, to be held in the same Swedish cities, was cancelled, while the world men's under-20 in Edmonton and men's under-18 championship in Texas, went ahead as planned.
The IIHF caused a backlash on social media when it announced the cancellation of the 2022 women's tournament two weeks out from its Jan. 8 start.
The announcement came on the eve of the men's under-20 championship being back in Edmonton — which lasted just four days because of COVID outbreaks.
It was then announced in March that the 2022 women's U18 championship would be moved and rescheduled rather than cancelled outright.
Canada's game-by-game results were as follows:
- 3-2 win over United States (gold medal game)
- 2-1 win over Finland (semi-final)
- 7-0 win over Slovakia (quarter-final)
- 7-0 loss to United States
- 3-1 win over Sweden
- 2-0 loss to Finland
- with files from The Canadian Press
