World U18 Championships

It looks like another Canada-USA showdown in women’s hockey as both teams are now 3-0 at the World U18 Championships in Calgary, AB. The Americans started off on Monday with an 11-0 pasting of Russia, while Canada demolished the Czech Republic 11-2.
In other action on Monday, Sweden beat Switzerland 4-1, and Germany doubled Finland 4-2.

On Tuesday, Russia suffered its second crushing defeat as they were completely dominated by Sweden 14-0. In the other two very one sided affairs, the USA delivered their second straight shutout this time against Switzerland 11-0, while Canada pasted Germany 10-1. The Czech Republic beat Finland 5-3.

Preliminary round play finished on Wednesday with Switzerland beating Russia 6-2, the USA beating Sweden by the same score, the Czech Republic edging Germany 3-2, and Canada delivering a 17-0 pounding to Finland. After the first three days of play, Team Canada tops the scoring statistics with three players in the top three.

Marie-Phillip Poulin is tops with seven goals and five assist in three games, Camille Dummais is second with four goals and seven assists, and Natalie Spooner is third with three goals and eight assists.

Three countries are represented among netminders as Team Sweden’s Valentina Lizana is first with her 2-1 record, 0.50 GAA, and 0.971 SAV %. American Alyssa Grogan is second with three wins and no losses, 0.81 goals-against-average, and 0.904 SAV %. Team Canada’s Amanda Mazzotta rounds out the top three as she is 2-0 with an 0.67 GAA, and a 0.890 SAV %.

At the end of the preliminary round Canada and the USA stand atop of Group A and B respectively. In Group A, the Czech Republic is 2-1, Germany is 1-2, and Finland surprisingly is 0-3. On the B side, Sweden is 2-1, Switzerland is 1-2, and Russia is 0-3.

Poyton and Vanderhoven Win CHA Awards

Wayne State junior forward Sam Poyton and her teammate junior defenseman Tina Vanderhoven are the CHA offensive and defensive players for the period ending January 6th. There was no rookie of the week in the CHA last week. In Wayne State’s 3-3 tie with Minnesota on Sunday, Poyton had two goals and one assist.

On Saturday, Vanderhoven had one assist on the game tying goal as Wayne State was shorthanded and netted the first goal and assisted on the game tying one in the 3-3 tie on Sunday against Minnesota. Vanderhoven was even for the weekend.

Selina, Gentile, and Kessler are ECAC Best This Week

Clarkson sophomore forward Britney Selina, Union forward Marissa Gentile, and Harvard sophomore goalie Christina Kessler are the ECAC player, rookie, and goalie for the week ending January 6th. Selina had a five point weekend as Clarkson beat Vermont 5-1 and 3-1. She had one goal, the game-winner, and one assist in the 5-1 win on Saturday and two goals, one assist, and was the first star of the game in the 3-1 win on Sunday. This is her second player of the week award this season.

Gentile had three points (2G, 1A) as Union tied Rensselaer 4-4 on Saturday in a game that they came back from a 3-0 deficit to earn the tie. Two of her goals came on three shots with the game tying one coming with four seconds left in regulation.

Kessler made 32 saves on 33 shots on goal as Harvard beat Cornell and Colgate this past weekend to improve her record to 13-1-0 this season with a .923 save percentage that tops all NCAA DI netminders. The 4-0 shutout on Saturday was the fifth of her career. Kessler allowed fewer than two goals per game for the 12th time over 13 games this season. She is second nationwide with her 1.08 GAA, and 0.946 SAV %.

Hockey East Awards Schaus, Sulyma, and Wilson

A trio of goalies won the Hockey East awards as Boston College sophomore Molly Schaus, Northeastern freshman Leah Sulyma, and Connecticut junior Brittany Wilson were awarded the player, rookie, and defensive player of the week, respectively.

In Boston College’s two game split with St. Lawrence, Schaus made 89 saves with a season high 53 of them coming in the 5-2 win last Friday and 25 in the second period of the game on Saturday. Over the two games she had a 2.50 GAA, and a 0.947 SAV %.

Sulyma made 82 saves this pat weekend with a career high 47 of them coming as Northeastern lost 1-0 to Yale on Saturday and 35 as Northeastern tied Brown 3-3 on Sunday.

Against Princeton this past weekend, Wilson made 71 saves over two games. The 31 saves that she made on Friday in the scoreless tie was a season high for her. She allowed one goal in 129:55 in the series.

Keys, Bonhomme, and Knight Receive WCHA Honors

In the WCHA, it was Ohio State senior forward Erin Keys and senior defender Tessa Bonhomme and Wisconsin freshman forward Hilary Knight receiving the offensive, defensive, and rookie of the week awards. When Ohio State swept North Dakota last weekend, Keys had five points and Bonhomme had seven.

On Friday, Key’s had the game tying goal with 7:40 left in regulation as the Buckeyes won 3-2 with Bonhomme getting the assist on Keys’ goal and netting the game-winner with 31 seconds left in the game. In Saturday’s contest, Keys assisted on Bonhomme’s goal that opened the scoring in the 7-3 win. Keys assisted on Ohio State’s fourth goal for a 4-0 lead and the fifth for a 5-2 OSU lead. Bonhomme assisted OSU’s third, fifth, and seventh goal for the 7-3 win. Bonhomme’s five point game on Saturday matched Emma Laaksonen’s performance of March 2, 2001.

Knight’s one goal and one assist this past weekend came on Saturday as she assisted on the game-winner and added an insurance goal. She also had four shots on goal on Friday as well. Wisconsin swept Minnesota State.

New Hampshire Tops in USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine, USCHO.com Polls

New Hampshire has repeated as the number-one team in NCAA D1 hockey this week on both the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine and USCHO.com DI polls. In the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll, they received 18 of 19 first place votes and 189 points, while they received 12 of 15 first place votes in the USCHO.com poll. They are tops in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll for the second straight week.

Minnesota-Duluth remains second in both polls this week with one first place vote in the USCHO.com poll. Harvard picked up the last first place vote in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll to finish third and also picked up two first place votes to finish third in the USCHO.com poll.

Rounding out the top five in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Poll were Mercyhurst College (119), which moved up two spots to edge out the University of Minnesota (118) who fell from fourth to fifth. The two teams also finished at fourth and fifth respectively in the USCHO.com poll. After two weeks out of the top 10, Boston College returned to the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll in tenth.

USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Poll 14

1) University of New Hampshire, 189 (18)
2) University of Minnesota Duluth, 170
3) Harvard University, 152 (1)
4) Mercyhurst College, 119
5) University of Minnesota, 118
6) University of Wisconsin, 98
7) St. Lawrence University, 82
8) Dartmouth College, 45
9) University of Connecticut, 40
10) Boston College, 13

Others receiving votes: St. Cloud State University, 12; Clarkson University, 7.

USCHO.com Poll

1) New Hampshire, (12)
2) Minnesota-Duluth, (1)
3) Harvard, (2)
4) Mercyhurst
5) Minnesota
6) Wisconsin
7) St. Lawrence
8) Dartmouth
9) St. Cloud State
10) Connecticut

Others Receiving Votes: Boston College 11, Clarkson 6, Princeton 2

Games This Week

In NCAA play this past weekend on Thursday, Quinnipiac doubled Robert Morris 2-1, and St. Lawrence beat Boston College 3-1. On Friday, Quinnipiac swept Robert Morris with a 3-1 win, Providence shutout Niagara 3-0, Rensselaer nipped Union 1-0, Princeton and Connecticut played to a scoreless overtime tie, Colgate needed the extra period to get past Dartmouth 2-1, Harvard beat Cornell 4-1, St. Cloud State nipped Bemidji State 1-0, Ohio State edged North Dakota 3-2, and Wisconsin topped Minnesota State 4-1.

Saturday’s action saw Minnesota double Wayne State 6-3, Providence complete their sweep of Niagara with a 4-0 blanking, Clarkson beat Vermont 5-1, and New Hampshire skate past Brown 3-1, St. Cloud skate to a 3-1 win over Bemidji to sweep their series, Wisconsin get by Minnesota State 3-1, and Ohio State blast North Dakota 7-3.

There were two overtime ties as well with Rensselaer and Union skating to a 4-4 deadlock, and Princeton and Connecticut tying 1-1. Three overtime games featured Yale nipping Northeastern 1-0, Harvard shutting out Colgate 4-0, and Dartmouth over Colgate 8-0.

On Sunday, it was Minnesota and Wayne State tying at 3, Clarkson over Vermont 3-1, and Brown 3 and Northeastern tying at 3.

Mercy continues to lead the CHA in conference standings with their perfect 4-0-0 record. They are also 14-4-2 overall as well.

There is no change in the conference scoring statistics either as Mercyhurst sophomore forward Meghan Agosta still has eight goals and four assists in four games played and is the overall leader with 25 goals and 15 assists in 20 games. Her teammate Laura Hosier has three wins, no losses, and no ties to lead the conference and is 10-4-4 overall with a 1.97 GAA and 0.920 SAV %.

Harvard leads the ECAC standings in the conference with 11 wins in 11 games and the overall standings with their 14-1-0 record.

Dartmouth sophomore forward Jenna Cunningham leads the conference standings with nine goals and 15 assists in 11 games. She is also the overall leader with 16 goals and 20 assists in 16 games.

In the net, Harvard sophomore Christina Kessler tops all goalies as she has a perfect record in 10 games that was between the pipes to go along with her 0.90 GAA and 0.958 SAV %. She is also the overall leader with 13 wins against one loss and no ties, a goals against average of 0.93, and a 0.950 SAV %.

New Hampshire is the leader in the Hockey East standings with their 9-0-0 record. The Wildcats also top the overall standings with 18 wins, three losses, and no ties..
Wildcat junior forward Sam Faber is the top scorer in the conference (7G, 11A) and overall 14G, 15A).

Between the pipes, teammate Kayley Herman is tops as she has no losses in the eight games that she has played between the pipes in addition to her 0.99 GAA, and 0.931 SAV %. She is 16-2-0 overall with a 1.23 GAA, and a 0.931 SAV %.

In the WCHA, Minnesota-Duluth is 13-3-0 in the conference and 16-3-1 overall.
A pair of UMD forwards lead the conference and overall standings as sophomore Saara Tuominen is the conference leader with 10 goals and 15 assists, while freshman Iya Gavrilova is the overall leader with 12 goals and 18 assists.

Their teammate sophomore Kim Martin leads all conference goalies with her 10-3-0 record, 1.38 GAA, and 0.953 SAV %. She is also the overall leader with 13 wins, three losses, and zero ties, a 1.27 GAA and 0.958 SAV %. Play resumes on Thursday with one game as Northeastern hosts New Hampshire.

Upcoming Games

On Friday, Wayne State hosts Maine, Cornell is at home to Rensselaer, Union travels to Colgate, St. Lawrence takes on Harvard at home, Dartmouth makes their way to Clarkson, Princeton hosts Yale, Brown is at Quinnipiac, Vermont is at home to Connecticut, North Dakota is in Bemidji, Minnesota State hosts Minnesota-Duluth, and Ohio State travels to St. Cloud.

Saturday’s action will see Mercyhurst at Providence, Wayne State finishing up their series with Maine at home, Colgate hosting Rensselaer, Cornell taking on Union at home, Dartmouth traveling to St. Lawrence, Clarkson hosting Harvard, Brown making their way to Princeton, Quinnipiac at home to Yale, Boston College taking on Minnesota in Minnesota, Mercyhurst at Providence, Vermont at Connecticut, Bemidji State and North Dakota in Bemidji, St. Cloud State at home to Ohio State, and Minnesota-Duluth at Minnesota State.

At the World U18 championships after an off day on Thursday, the placement games will begin on Friday with two placement and two semifinal contests as Germany will take on Russia in the A3 vs B4 game and Switzerland will face Finland in the other placement game.

In the semifinals, Canada will face Sweden, and the USA will take on the Czech Republic. The seventh and fifth place games along with the bronze and gold medal games will be played on Saturday.

The seventh place game will feature the loser of the Germany/Russia game taking on the loser of the Swiss/Finland game. In the fifth place game, we will see the winner of the Germany/Russia game take on the winner of the Swiss/Finland game.

The bronze medal game will have the loser of the Canada/Sweden game take on the loser of the USA/Czech Republic game, while the gold medal game will feature the winners of those two contests.