USA hammer Denmark 14-0 with record 85 shots to reach women’s hockey worlds semi-finals

Defending champions the United States marched into the semi-finals of the women's ice hockey world championship with a crushing 14-0 victory over hosts Denmark on Friday.

The Americans stormed out of the blocks, racing into a 5-0 lead inside eight minutes before stretching their advantage to 10-0 by the end of the second period in the first-ever meeting between the teams.

The US will face Finland in Sunday's semi-finals.

Taylor Fox opened the scoring just 57 seconds into the game, skating into the slot to put the Americans ahead. Fox finished with a goal and three assists in a four-point performance.

Caroline Harvey and Haley Winn each scored twice and added three assists, while Kelly Pannek had two goals and two assists. Hannah Bilka contributed a goal and two assists, while Casey O'Brien, Grace Zumwinkle, Laila Edwards and Hayley Scamurra each finished with a goal and an assist. Alex Carpenter and Jesse Compher also scored.

Gwyneth Philips needed to make just eight saves to secure the shutout.

Denmark pulled starting goaltender Emma-Sofie Nordstrom before the third period after she had stopped 51 shots. Her replacement, Caroline Bjergstad, made 20 saves.

The Americans' 85 shots on goal set a single-game tournament record, surpassing the previous mark of 82 set by the US against Sweden in 1997.

Elsewhere, Canada survived a scare against the Czech Republic, edging a 3-2 victory in Herning to book a semi-final meeting with Sweden.

Sarah Fillier, Rebecca Leslie and Renata Fast scored for Canada, while goaltender Eve Gascon made 14 saves.

Kristýna Kaltounková, the No 1 overall pick in last year's PWHL draft, scored twice for the Czechs, who managed more than one goal against Canada for the first time in six meetings across all competitions.

Fillier broke the deadlock 1:29 into the second period, pouncing on a rebound to score for the third straight game after missing Canada's first two preliminary-round contests with an upper-body injury.

She leads Canada with 23 goals and 38 points in 38 career appearances at the world championships.

Leslie doubled the lead on a power play less than three minutes later before Kaltounková pulled one back with a power-play goal of her own.

Fast restored Canada's two-goal advantage with 3:13 remaining in the second period, but Kaltounková struck again in the third to set up a tense finish.

The Czechs pulled goaltender Klára Peslarová with 42 seconds remaining in search of an equalizer, despite Kaltounková being in the penalty box, but Canada held on.

In Esbjerg, Sweden secured their place in the last four with a 1-0 victory over Switzerland, Sara Hjalmarsson scoring the game's only goal.

Finland, last year's bronze medalists, also advanced with a 6-0 shutout of Germany. Petra Nieminen led the way with a goal and two assists.

Earlier on Friday, Austria retained their top-division status with a 2-1 overtime victory over Japan in a relegation playoff. Anna Meixner scored both goals for Austria, who are competing in the tournament's top tier for the first time.