Ice Hockey IIHF World Championships 2017

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WOMEN'S UNDER 18 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

2017

 

 

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Gold Medal Match

Canada - USA  1-3

 

U.S. wins gold again

Zumwinkle's late goal gives Americans repeat

 

Canada came back in the third to tie the game 1-1, but Grace Zumwinkle scored on a two-on-one with just 2:32 remaining. An empty netter made the final 3-1.

 

Grace Zumwinkle converted a two-on-one late in the third period to break a 1-1 tie and lead the United States to a 3-1 win over Canada to claim gold at the WW18. 

 

"It's such an incredible feeling," began captain Cayla Barnes, who was playing in her final WW18 game. "We started preparing for this in the summer. January 14 has always been in the back of our minds, so we're so happy to be here. We had some fire in us. We didn't want to lose again to Canada [after a 1-0 overtime loss in the round robin]. We never looked back. For us, it's always 'never too high; never too low.'"

 

For the Americans, it's their second straight gold, and for Canada a second year of heartbreak. In all, the Americans move ahead 6-4 in gold medals at the U18 championship for women, an event that has matured and developed immensely in its ten years of existence.

 

"I thought both teams battled hard," said Canada's Amy Potomak. "In the end, the bounces didn't go our way, but I'm extremely proud of the team."

 

"We all worked hard to get to this point," U.S. goalie Alex Gulstene offered. "They got that late goal, but we rallied and got the 2-1 lead. It was unbelievable. We got the next goal and won the game. It makes the blood, sweat, and tears of training worth it."

 

"We had a really good mix of returning players and younger players," said coach USA Joel Johnson. "I think what made us special was that we got better as the tournament went on. The players trusted each other, and some took on different roles than they're used to. But the whole team stepped up."

 

The Americans had talked about getting off to a fast start and using their speed against Canada, and they did just that. Canada had a tough time for the first seven or eight minutes of doing anything but getting the puck out, but the U.S., for all their forechecking and pressure, couldn’t get many quality shots.

 

And then the tide quickly turned. Canada started to skate with more confidence, getting the puck deep and creating opportunities. The line of Daryl Watts-Emma Maltais-Sarah Fillier cam close to opening the scoring on a scramble around the goal, but Gulstene kept the puck out.

 

A Fillier giveaway offered a great chance for Clair DeGeorge, but although Canada's goalie Danika Ranger bobbled the shot, she, too, kept the puck out.

 

Amy Potomak determination drew the only penalty of a physical period off a nice rush, and although Canada moved the puck around crisply on the ensuing power play and had a couple of decent chances, there was no goal to be had.

 

Despite the fast start, the U.S. was outshot 12-3 in the period and went to the dressing room looking to recalibrate.

 

Recalibrate they did. They started the second like the first, but this time they drew a penalty and converted on the ensuing power play.

 

Delaney Drake got the puck down by the goal line and fired form a bad angle, squeaking the puck by Ranger at 5:56 to make it 1-0 for the U.S.

 

"We've been spending a lot of time working on the power play, moving the puck quicker," Drake said. "Clair [DeGeorge] made a really good pass to me down low,and I pulled it and shot between the goalie's skates, and it went in."

 

But they did not let up. Canada was on its heels most of the period and wasn’t able to find a reply to the American pressure as they had in the first. The Canadians had two power plays, and although they moved the puck well, they didn’t force Gulstene to make a big save either.

 

"We thought we generated a lot of chances in the first period and didn't convert, and in the second we didn't generate those chances," said Canada's coach, Troy Ryan. "A game like ths comes down to executing at the right time."

 

The Americans played hard again in the third and didn't give Canada much, but a penalty to Allyson Simpson midway through gave Canada a bit of life. Daryl Watts drilled a high shot over Gulstene's shoulder with one second left in the penalty to tie the game.

 

The goal came at 13:43, and overtime seemed inevitable. But the U.S. took advantage of a loose puck at centre ice and created a two-on-one. Ranger made a nice save on the initail shot by Clair DeGeorge, but Zumwinkle was there to bang home the rebound.

 

"We were fine," Barnes said of the tying goal. "We stuck to our game. We knew we were going to get another one. Foot on the gas pedal."

 

"We certainly played more defensively in the third period. That's natural," said Johnson, "but as a coach I had to be thinking about overtime. We hit reset and were fine."

 

Emily Oden finished the scoring with an empty netter with 5.9 seconds remaining and Canada with a six-on-four (power play and goalie out). 

 

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WOMEN'S UNDER 18 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

2017

 

 

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Merkusheva named Best Goalie

Barnes, Shirley also get Directorate nods

 

Four players tied for the tournament lead in points while another Swiss forward led in goals.

 

The IIHF Directorate Awards were handed out after the gold-medal game and, not surprisingly, but finalists were represented. As well, a Russian was named Best Goalie for her efforts in leading her team to the bronze medal with a 2-0 shutout of Sweden. The awards are as follows:

 

Best Goalie— Valeria Merkusheva

Best Defenceman— Cayla Barnes 

Best Forward— Sophie Shirley 

 

There were no media all-star team and MVP awarded at this year’s WW18.

 

The leading scorers in the tournament—and there were four them—all had six points: Lisa Ruedi, Grace Zumwinkle, Cayla Barnes, and Sophie Shirley.   

 

Ruedi also led the tournament in goals (five), marking the second year running a Swiss player has had this distinction. Last year it was Alina Muller with seven goals and nine points. Clair DeGeorge (USA) led in assists (five) this year. 

 

Total attendance for the 21 games was 11,919, marking only the second time the event has exceeded the 10,000 mark in Europe. Not coincidentally, the first time was in Zlin/Prerov in 2012 when some 17,480 fans passed through the turnstiles. 

 

The final tally of goals per game is 88 in 21 games, an average of 4.19. This is by far the lowest total in the ten years of WW18 competition and points to a competitive balance never seen before as well as excellent goaltending across the board.

 

The Groups are set for next year’s WW18. Group A will feature United States, Canada, Russia, Sweden.

 

Group B will have Finland, Czech Republic, Switzerland, and Germany.

 

The Germans won Division I-A today to earn the promotion while Japan will be relegated.

 

The host city and venues for the 2018 Women’s U18 World Championship have not yet been awarded. This decision is expected to come in May, at the IIHF’s annual congress, in Cologne.

 

The senior Women’s World Championship will take place in a couple of months in Plymouth, Michigan, United States, 31 March-7 April.

 

 

 

Result Thread

 

 

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WOMEN'S UNDER 18 DIVISION I GROUP B

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

2017

 

 

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Mattivi stars for Italy

Captain leads team to promotion in WW18 Div. IB

 

Italy completed a perfect display at the 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 Women’s World Championship Division I Group B in Katowice, Poland, sweeping aside Denmark 4-1 in Saturday’s decisive game to top the group and earn promotion to next year’s Division IA.

The game, and the tournament as a whole, was a personal triumph for Italy’s captain Nadia Mattivi. She had a goal and two assists on the night, taking her tally for the competition to 4+7 and make her the top point scorer. Teammate Anita Muraro finished on top of the goal-scoring chart with her sixth of the event.

The teams went into this tournament as the favourites. Denmark was looking to bounce back after suffering relegation from Division I last season, while Italy missed out on promotion in 2016 when it lost 3-2 to Austria in the gold medal game. A new, extended format this year placed both nations in Division I Group B, with hopes of promotion.

Early group games went to form: Italy and Denmark won four out of four, and had five shutouts between them. Eugenia Pompanin, Italy’s starting netminder on Saturday, had been flawless in her two previous games as she blanked Great Britain and Poland, while her understudy Elisa Biondi gave up just two goals in her two starts. Denmark had been marginally more potent on offense, but could not boast quite the same resilience at the back.

Ultimately that proved decisive when the teams took to the ice. There was little between them in terms of territory or chances – both managed 19 shots on goal – but Pompanin’s greater assurance between the piping proved too much for the Danes. Early on she was alert to deal with a danger Amalie Andersen effort from the point and came up big to deny Julie Henriksen’s slaloming move through the Italian defence, while Italy took its chances at the other end.

Mattivi set up Mara da Rech for the opening goal in the eighth minute, then started the move from which Italy made it 2-0 in the 16th. This time the finish came from Greta Niccolai, an assured shot beyond Cassandra Repstock-Romme after a lovely instinctive spin and pass from Rebecca Roccella.

Denmark finally found a way past Pompanin on the power play in the 18th minute – Andersen’s effort from the blue was the first to beat the goalie in 197 minutes of action – and almost tied the game before the hooter when Amanda Refsgaard hit the piping, but Italy was not to be denied.

Muraro got her sixth of the competition with a solo effort early in the second period. Tracking back on the PK, she blocked a shot from Linn Thomsen and chased the puck down the ice to calmly convert a one-on-one against Repstock-Romme. Then, as Denmark chased the game, Mattivi wrapped it up with an empty net goal.

Outside the battle for top spot, host nation Poland claimed third place thanks to wins over Great Britain, China and Kazakhstan. The Kazakhs, defeated in their showdown with the Brits, finished without a victory and will be relegated to next year’s qualification tournament.

 

 

Result Thread

 

 

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WOMEN'S UNDER 18 DIVISION I GROUP A

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

2017

 

 

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German girls back

Win U18 Women’s Worlds Division IA

 

After just missing out on promotion to the top division in 2016, in Miskolc, Hungary, the Germans achieved their goal this time in the Hungarian capital city of Budapest.

The tournament was filled with upsets right from the start and this was the theme from start to finish. Just as it looked like the picture was starting to get clearer everything was flipped on its head again.

On paper France, the team that was relegated from the top division, was the top-seeded team with Austria, who was promoted to this group being the lowest-seeded team. The two teams faced off in the opening game of the tournament. The two teams exchanged early goals as Theresa Schafzah made it 1-0 for Austria with Elona Allenbach answering back for France. As the game went on Austria took control of the game but were not able to capitalize on this until there were ten minutes left in the game as Laura Luftenegger scored the game winner for Austria.

The second game of the tournament brought the second upset as well with last year’s fourth-place team defeating the silver medallists the year before. The two teams exchanged goals in the opening twenty minutes as Ingrid Berge made it 1-0. Germany answered back with a power-play goal from Celina Haider. The game was a balanced match with Germany taking a 2-1 lead when Lili Welcke found the back of the net. However, in the third period Norway got things together when they scored two unanswered goals as both Emma Bergensen and Emilie Johansen scoring power-play goals, as Norway took the three points. They did not have too much time to prepare before the tournament but coach Janne Salmela was happy with what he saw. “We’re getting where we want to be. We are relieved that we are on the right way. It is crucial that the team is together as a team, off ice and on ice, it’s really important because we haven’t had too many practices together, so that’s the key to get better every day.”

In the final game Slovakia breezed through the host team Hungary, as they beat their southern neighbours 4-0 and picked up the three points.

Norway continued where they left off as they pulled off their second upset in two days with an overtime defeat of France. Johansen scored for Norway with Margot Rouquette scoring in the final minute of the period when France tied the game up. The score stayed deadlocked at 1-1 through the second and into the third period. Millie Sirum gave Norway the lead back but with only minutes left in the game and France pushing, Chloe Aurard found the back of the net to send the game into overtime. The overtime period did not take long as ten seconds into it Lene Tendenes scored from inside the blue line for the win.

As expected, the second game of the day was taken by Slovakia who looked to be cruising to their second easy victory in two days as they had a 3-0 lead with less than seven minutes left in the game. Slovakia had dominated the first two periods as Austria only managed a total of seven shots in 40 minutes. “We were really motivated. We have a really good team so now it is our time. It’s really good to have a rest day tomorrow because on Wednesday we’ll have a tough game against Germany,” said Slovak captain Tatiana Istocyova after the game. In the closing minutes of the game Austria woke up and started to push. They scored twice in a span of just under two minutes. In the end Norway was just not able to finish the comeback.

After stumbling in the opening game to Norway, Germany came back with a 3-0 shutout win over the host team Hungary. Celina Haider led all scorers with one goal and one assist.

Just as it looked like the tournament would get a clear picture, the third game day mixed everything up. Germany blanked Slovakia 2-0 on goals by Franziska Feldmeier and Haider. After the game German head coach Tommy Ketner was short and to the point. “We defended well and protected the slot. Nobody will get the puck in there. I hope that is the key for the rest of the tournament.”

This was followed up by Austria surprising Norway by the score of 3-2. Laura Kraus scored twice in the first period to put Austria up 2-0. The rest of the game was all about the special teams as Norway tied it up with power-play goals in the second and third periods with the game winner also being score on the man advantage when Antonia Matzka scored in the 58th minute for Austria.

In the final game of the day, which in retrospect would play a big factor in who gets relegated, was a close game between France and Hungary where the host team Hungary scored three unanswered goals in the third period for the come from behind 3-1 win.

With three games down and two to go the tournament was still anyone's as Germany, Slovakia and Austria were all tied on six points with Norway right behind them with five.

The second-to-last match day would be the one that clears the picture in the standings. Germany did their part as they put seven into the Austrian net with Brendel scoring two goals on her own, with a total of five German players registering two points each. Slovakia did the same as well. They brought what they had to and stayed in the race for promotion with a 6-1 win over France, who now had a real risk of being relegated.

The final game of the day brought excitement and depending on how it finished could still throw one more wrench into the outcome of the tournament. Hungary had a 2-0 lead after the first period on goals by Petra Szamosfalvi and Dominika Horvath, however, Johansen came through for Norway as she did earlier in the tournament with two even-strength goals in the middle frame. Jorgensen gave Norway the lead in the third period but Hungarian tied it up soon after when Lotti Odnoga stuffed home the puck to make it 3-3. A second Jorgensen power-play goal and a score by Pedersen looked up the win for Norway.

Heading into the final match day it was still a three-team race for the gold medal and promotion to the top division. The winner of the Slovakia-Norway game would also need Germany to lose and that team would pick up the gold. Germany knew all they needed to do was win, against a French team that would need a win and a Hungarian loss avoid relegation.

Lucia Haluskova gave Slovakia the early lead with Julia Matejkova doubling the lead for Slovakia in the opening minutes of the second period. Norway managed to take advantage of a 5-on-3 power play with Tendenes finding the back of the net. Slovakia buckled down and pulled out the win with Nikola Rumanova scoring a late goal on the 5-on-3 advantage. With the win Slovakia placed their fate in the hands of a desperate French squad.

Lilli Welcke gave the Germans the early lead in the game but France was also fighting hard to stay in the game. Germany did not double the lead until Naemi Bar found the back of the net. Germany made it 3-0. Just as it looked like Germany would go up 4-0, Anais Aurard made a save on a breakaway, on the other end Chloe Aurard scored for France to make it 3-1. In the third period Aurard scored again to make it a one goal game but France could not get any closer as Germany scored an empty netter at the end for the 4-2 win and the gold medal.

“I think this was a very important game and we were a bit nervous. We are just happy to win and we will go up to the top division. We worked together and that was the key for us, there wasn’t one player on this team that did not work hard, I can say I’m just happy,” said a smiling German captain Franziska Feldmeier after the game.

With Germany winning promotion, it meant that Slovakia would finish in second and Norway picked up the bronze. In the last game of the tournament Hungary defeated Austria for fourth place and France being relegated.

 

 

Result Thread

 

 

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Another IIHF World Championship to start in few hours, This week will be reserved for the last this years U20 tournament. The Under 20 Division III (the lowest played U20 division) in New Zealand.

 

 

Mens

 

Under 20 Division III World Championships in Dunedin (NZL)

Day 1 Schedule (16th January 2017)

GMT +13

 

Group A

10:00  China vs Chinese Taipei

17:00  Israel vs Iceland

 

Group B

13:30  Bulgaria vs South Africa

20:30  New Zealand vs Turkey

 

*Tournament format - 8 Teams divided in 2 preliminary groups, first 2 Nations from both groups will advance to the knock-out round (semifinals, Final) the winner of the tournament will qualify for the men´s Under 20 Division II Group B next year and will replace Australia relegated from this years tournament in Spain played last week.

 

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Mens

 

Under 20 Division III World Championships in Dunedin (NZL)

Day 1 (16th January 2017)

 

Group A

10:00  China vs Chinese Taipei   9-3

17:00  Israel vs Iceland   0-3

 

Group B

13:30  Bulgaria vs South Africa   5-2

20:30  New Zealand vs Turkey   4-6

 

The "Ice Blacks" Haka is back and every year still even more impressive. at 3:00  https://livestream.com/nzihl/events/6872500/videos/146937913

 

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2nd day of the preliminary round of the men´s Under 20 Division III World Championships is scheduled tomorrow.

 

 

Mens

 

Under 20 Division III World Championships in Dunedin (NZL)

Day 2 Schedule (17th January 2017)

GMT +13

 

Group A

10:00  Israel vs Chinese Taipei

17:00  Iceland vs China

 

Group B

13:30  Turkey vs Bulgaria

20:30  New Zealand vs South Africa

 

Livestreams

 

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Mens

 

Under 20 Division III World Championships in Dunedin (NZL)

Day 2 (17th January 2017)

 

Group A

10:00  Israel vs Chinese Taipei   3-0

17:00  Iceland vs China   1-4

 

Group B

13:30  Turkey vs Bulgaria   8-1

20:30  New Zealand vs South Africa   3-2

 

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Last day of the preliminary round of the men´s Under 20 Division III World Championships is scheduled tomorrow.

 

 

Mens

 

Under 20 Division III World Championships in Dunedin (NZL)

Day 3 Schedule (19th January 2017)

GMT +13

 

Group A

10:00  Chinese Taipei vs Iceland

17:00  China vs Israel

*Theoretically all 4 teams are still fighting (some with more, some with less probable chances) for the semifinals, China the tournament top favorite is with best options, even a lose in some circumstances will be enough for them.

 

Group B

13:30  South Africa vs Turkey

20:30  Bulgaria vs New Zealand

*Bulgaria vs New Zealand is a Direct Match for the knock-out round. Turkey is already qualified for the main phase as group B winner.

 

Livestreams

 

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Mens

 

Under 20 Division III World Championships in Dunedin (NZL)

Day 3 (19th January 2017)

 

Group A

10:00  Chinese Taipei vs Iceland   2-7

17:00  China vs Israel   6-4

 

Group B

13:30  South Africa vs Turkey   0-6

20:30  Bulgaria vs New Zealand   4-5