Alex Carpenter netted a hat trick to power the United States to a 6-0 shutout win over Czechia at the 2024 IIHF Women's World Championship in Utica, New York on Friday night.

Czechia had a chance to take the lead early in the first period when Adela Sapovalova dropped down her shoulder in the United States' zone, shot the puck but was unable to score. Sapovalova was able to draw a penalty on the play but Czechia could not convert it into a goal.

Alex Carpenter put the United States ahead at 6:49 of the first period.  She was the beneficiary of a backhanded pass from Kendall Coyne Schofield and shovelled the puck past Czechia goaltender Klara Peslarova and into the net.

Halfway through the period, Czechia came close to tying the game.  On a breakway, Denisa Krizova flew into the United States' zone all the way to the net.   Goaltender Nicole Hensley read the play well, going across and spreading out to make the save and deny Czechia the equalizer.

The United States had discipline issues as Czechia would go on the powerplay five consecutive times between the first two periods of the game. The team squandered the opportunities and were unable to muster much in their offensive zone as the United States successfully killed off multiple powerplays.

With the crowd cheering the hosts on, the United States continued to press hard on the boards and cycled the puck.  Captain Hilary Knight came close to extending the lead as she walked right in front of the net but was unable to get the puck past Peslarova.

Towards the end of the third period, the United States got into a groove and scored a pair of goals 59 seconds apart. Carpenter finished a play she began from behind the net.  The forward passed the puck to Abbey Murphy who then sent it over to Caroline Harvey.  The defender launched the puck to the net. On the rebound, Carpenter scooped it up and tucked it past Peslarova to score her second goal of the game.

With 2:32 remaining in the period, Czechia turned over the puck.  Britta Curl sent it down to Laila Edwards who finished off the play scoring her first goal in a Women's World tournament. Edwards also became the first Black woman to score for the United States's senior women's team.

"I think scoring will hopefully help the case with more inspiration for young girls and more specifically young girls of color," Edwards says of the significance of her goal.  "To see me at this level is great, but to see me be successful at this level is even more important.  I think representation matters. That needs to be put out there and echoed continually. To see someone at this level that looks like you is huge."

At 3:42 of the third period, Kendall Coyne Schofield sprinted down the ice and found Edwards who blasted a right-handed shot to score a shorthanded goal.  The goal would be Edwards' second of the night.

The first pick overall in the PWHL Draft this year got her first of the tournament 45 seconds later.  Taylor Heise sped down the ice, faked the shot and then launched a slapshot through the net. The goal was Heise's first of the tournament.

Carpenter would get her third goal of the game halfway through the third period.  Harvey's slapshot ricocheted off Carpenter and into the net to notch the first hat-trick of the 2024 Women's World Championship.

"I am just looking to contribute any way I can, whether that's goals, assists, blocking shots, it really doesn't matter how I contribute," Carpenter says of the hat-trick.  "I just want to do what I can for this team to be successful."

A Kirsten Simms game misconduct penalty late in the third period gave Czechia another opportunity to score but Hensley stopped the last minute charge to close out the game.

Discipline was a challenge for the United States, but captain Hilary Knight felt the team responded well and set the tone.

"I love the way that we respond to adversity," Knight says.  "There was a lot of penalty minutes in that game, so just about establishing our brand of hockey and making sure that when we get back to five-on-five, that we pick up where we left off."

The United States will have little time in between games as they will be back on the ice to face Finland on Saturday April 6th.  

Despite the loss, Peslarova put on an impressive performance as she faced 48 shots on goal. 

"We started really good; we like to play physical and I think we proved that we can play the physical game," Peslarova says.  "They [USA] are not used to it that we are on them. I think like we performed really good and then  the US got the momentum after the third goal and by luck. It's hockey."

Czechia head coach Carla MacLeod was inspired by the team's performance on Friday against the hosts.

"'i'm really proud of the performance; we compete incredibly hard," she says.  "I don't think try to worry about the scoreboard. We try to stick to our game and make sure that we're executing. We know that works for us, and obviously, the challenge of playing Team USA or Team Canada is an exciting one. We've talked about it after the game - this is really only our second year in. the A pool, so we're just kind of learning our way through it too, but really appreciated how hard the Americans played. I felt like the game was a really competitive one. There's lots of lots of details within our game that we'll continue to look into, grow and learn, but really thought sort of the heart of the team was something I was incredibly proud of."

Czechia will regoup to face another challenge when the team meets Canada on Sunday April 7th.