Ice Hockey IIHF World Championships 2017

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WOMEN'S

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

2017

 

 

 

 

 

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Germany - Switzerland  2-4

 

 

 

 

 

 

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WOMEN'S

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2017

 

 

 

 

 

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Germany - Switzerland  2-4

 

Swiss win 4-2...now wait

Muller's hatter downs stubborn Germany

 

Switzerland got just the start it needed thanks to three goals in a 3:43 span of the first period. Alina Muller finished with a hat trick for the victors.

 

But now the players must wait to see if tomorrow's game will be a quarter-finals elimination game or the first in a best-of-three relegation game.

 

Switzerland now has five points in the Group B standings, one behind Germany, which lost for the first time. Sweden has three and the Czechs one. If Sweden wins tonight against the Czechs--in regulation or extra time--it will advance to the playoffs.

 

If the Swedes lose, in any manner, Switzerland will be in the quarter-finals and the Swedes will be in the relegation. Either way, the Czechs will be the other team fighting for survival, as even a win tonight can't vault them over the Swiss.

 

Germany has already qualified for the quarter-finals, which begin tomorrow.

 

"We can't be that happy after the win, but we did what we could do," Muller said. "Now we can only hope that the Czechs win."

 

"We wanted to finish with nine points in the round robin," German defenceman Ronja Renika said. "But we didn't play our best hockey in the firts 20 minutes. The Swiss put on a lot of pressure and  played very well, but we showed some character in the third period."

 

The Swiss scored five goals in the first, but only theee counted. One was ruled kicked in and another batted in with a hand, but in between those calls came three legitimate goals that gave the Swiss just the start they needed.

 

The impetus came from the potent combination of Muller and linemate Lara Stalder. Muller had four points (3+1) while Stalder had three (a goal and two assists). Muller is now tied with American Brianna Decker for the tournament lead in goals (3) and points (5).

 

"It's only this year that we've started to play together," Stalder said. "We're similar players because we like to pass, and we have good speed. We communicate a lot and have good chemistry."

 

The Swiss opened the scoring at 11:22 thanks to a perfectly-executed set play. Muller won a faceoff deep in her own end back to defenceman Christine Meier, and she hit Stalder with a perfect breakaway pass. Stalder drilled a clean shot over the glove of Franziska Albl.

 

"We've practised that a fair bit, so it was nice to see it work," Stalder noted.

 

Just 38 seconds later, Muller got her first of two in the period. Stalder made a nice pass to her, and Muller made no mistake.

 

"I know when she has the puck, I have to be ready," Muller added. "She's a great passer, so I'm always aware I could get the puck."

 

Three minutes later, Muller connected again off a Stalder feed, this time on a power play. Muller's one-timer off a nice cross-ice pass was perfect, and the 3-0 score was just the start the Swiss needed.

 

Marie Delarbre cut the lead to 3-1 just 23 seconds into the third. Skating in over the blue line and facing two defenders, she let go a quick shot that beat a surprised Florence Schelling over the glove.

 

The Swiss were on their heels most of the third, and four successive penalties didn't help. The Germans had two 5-on-3 situations. The first lasted but 14 seconds and was of little consequence, but the second was 1:09 in length and produced their second goal.

 

Anna-Maria Fiegert drifted a point shot that went through a screen and beat Schelling to the far side at 15:22, making for a much tighter ending than the Swiss had bargained for.

 

With the net empty, however, Muller scored her first Women's Worlds hat-trick goal with exactly 52 seconds left, ensuring the win.

 

[mrv86 3,131]

A good victory for Mexico 5-1 against North Korea... I hope they manage to get at least another win in regular time so they can remain in this division. Anything else is still a dream

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WOMEN'S

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2017

 

 

 

 

 

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Canada - Russia  8-0

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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WOMEN'S

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Canada - Russia  8-0

 

Canada wins (phew)

Shaky start, big save, then the goals came

 

Shannon Szabados stopped an early breakaway and then Canada got its game going, scoring four times in the first en route to a much-needed win over Russia, 8-0.

 

Canada made up for a shaky 0-2 start to the 2017 Women's Worlds by skating to an impressive 8-0 win over Russia this afternoon at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth.

 

"We're a confident team," said Meghan Agosta. "We needed to believe in ourselves and just go out and play hockey, and it showed."

 

"They were faster than us in the first period, and we didn't play our system," Anna Shokhna lamented. 

 

Jennifer Wakefield had two goals and an assist and six teammates had two points each.

 

Szabados earned her first Women's Worlds shutout in four years with 16 saves to her credit.

 

The win allows the players and management a collective sigh as the team now awaits the result of this evening's game between hosts United States and Finland. A U.S. win would put it on top of Group A with a 3-0 record and nine points. It would also leave Canada, Russia, and Finland tied with three points.

 

In this situation, a mini-standings between the three teams would then be created of results between the teams. Each team would have a record of 1-1, but Canada would be on top because of a superior goals differential, meaning it would advance directly to the seimi-finals while Russa and Finland would play in tomorrow's quarter-finals. Canada has never failed to advance to the semis.

 

The nerves were clearly on ice as Canada started the game, and coughing up an early breakaway to Anna Shokhina at the end of a Canada power play didn't help. But Szabados was patient on the deke and made the save, and Canada quickly took some momentum from the play.

 

"Shannon is an unbelievable goalie," Agosta enthused. "She made some key saves tonight that could have been game changers, but she always comes out on top."

 

"I was trying to see what the goalie was going to do," Shokhina said after her move to the right didn't pan out. "The puck came free outside our blue line, and I just got to it first and had a good chance."

 

Jennifer Wakefield opened the scoring at 14:30 on the power play, her slapshot from the top of the right circle going all the way. 

 

A minute later it was 2-0 thanks to Emily Clark, who slid a loose puck to the far side while goalie Maria Sorokina was down and out.

 

Just 78 seconds later, Wakefield got her second on another loose puck, and at 18:37 Natalie Spooner capped the period with a fourth goal.

 

It was just the period Canada needed to get its confidence back.

 

Strangely, Canada got off to a slow start in the second as well, giivng up a 2-on-1 right off the bat and then taking two quick penalties. But after killing 65 seconds of 3-on-5, the team started to take control again.

 

Erin Ambrose made it 5-0 at 11:01 on a power play, ripping a hard show over the shoulder of Sorokina.

 

Brianne Jenner, Meghan Agosta, and Sarah Potomak added third-period goals to up the final tally.

 

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Sweden - Czech Republic  3-1

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Sweden - Czech Republic  3-1

 

Swedes on to quarters

3-1 win over Czechs no good for Swiss

 

The Czechs got the first goal but it was all Sweden after that. The reward is a quarter-finals date for Damkronor with arch-rivals Finland tomorrow.

 

"We shut them down and forechecked well," noted Michelle Lowenheilm. "They didn’t get out of their zone easily. I think we played well. We got a lot of pucks at the goal."

 

The fallout from the Sweden win means the Swiss will now have to fight the Czechs in the relegation round. That best-of-three series also starts tomorrow, the loser being demoted to Division I-A for 2018. 

 

"We just tried to do our best, shift by shift, and didn’t think too much about what the game meant," Lowenheilm added. 

 

The Czechs got on the board first when Michaela Pejzlova scored on the power play at 10:39 of the opening period. The goal, though, seemed to awaken the Swedes, and they tied the game five minutes later when Johanna Fallman beat Klara Peslarova with a shot.

 

Fallman put the Swedes ahead for good at 5:12 of the second, and less than three minutes later Fanny Rask made it a 3-1 game. Try as they might, the Czechs couldn't get back into the game.

 

"We’ve had problems scoring goals all tournament," acknowledged forward Katerina Mrazova. "We’ve scored only one in each game, and you’re not going to win very often doing that. Every game is close. We start off well, and then at some point we have a mental lapse and it costs us the game. We have to play a 60-minute game against the good teams here."

 

This game produced one of the lowest shots totals in World Women's history. The Czechs had but 20 shots and the Swedes 16, that 36 total tying for the third-lowest total ever. The record is 30 between Germany (16) and Japan (14) on April 8, 2008.

 

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United States - Finland  5-3

 

 

 

 

 

 

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United States - Finland  5-3

 

U.S. hangs on for 5-3 win

Raty brilliant but penalties do in Finland

 

Hilary Knight scored two power-play goals; the Finns rallied from a 3-1 deficit; Hannah Brandt broke a 3-3 tie with a goal midway through the third period.

 

The win puts the Americans in first place and does Canada a favour. The Canadians now also qualify for the semif-finals directly, leaving Finland and Sweden to play in one of tomorrow's quarter-finals and Russia facing Germany in the other.

 

Finland's goalie Noora Raty was brilliant, facing 40 often difficult shots and stopping all but four (the last coming into an empty net).

 

More significant, though, the Finns have been sensational against the North Americans and show signs of being able to break though the gold-medal stranglehold the United States and Canada have held on the final game.

 

"We don't focus on the other team," said defenceman Lee Stecklein. "We focus on our team and how we're going to play. We know Finland can beat us, so we were ready to go today."

 

The difference was discipline, though, as the Finns took eight minor penalties to just four for the U.S. The Americans scored three goals with the extra man.

 

"I think last game maybe gave us more confidence that on a good day, when Noora is awesome, like today, we have a chance to win," acknowledged captain Jenni Hiirikoski, the most fluid skater in women's hockey. "But we gave them too many power plays, and that was a big reason they won."

 

"We stayed poised and focused," said U.S. captain Meghan Duggan. "We stuck to the game plan. It was great they beat Canada the other night--great for their program--but it didn't change how we prepared for our game tonight. We were ready, and happy with the win."

 

As in the previous game against Canada, the Finns struck first. This time it was a patient play by Susanna Tapani that created the goal. As she cut into the slot, she held the puck as players jostled for position and then fired to the back side past the glove of Alex Rigsby. It was a goalscorer's goal and staked the Finns to a 1-0 lead at 4:46.

 

"You never want to give up the first goal, but when we did we realized it was big and then turned around and focused on how we were playing," Stecklien continued. "All we cared about was getting that next goal."

 

Most of the period, though was dominated by the Americans. Whereas the Finns pressured the Canadian defence, tonight they loned up across the centre ice line trying to slow the speedy U.S. as they came through the middle.

 

It worked only to a degree, for once they penetrated the Finnish zone the Americans drove hard to the net. Finland took three penalties in the opening 20 minutes, the last two creating a 5-on-3.

 

The U.S. pounded shots at Noora Raty, and when one slipped loose Hilary Knight banged it in to tie the game at 12:21.

 

The Finns took five more penalties in the second (none by the U.S.), again costing the team momentum, and goals. Kendall Coyne gave the hosts an early lead with a power-play goal at 3:33, and the team kept  pouring it on.

 

Raty stopped captain Meghan Duggan on a breakaway,but soon after the U.S. had another lengthy two-man advantage on which they could not capitalize. But a later power play proved rewarding, and again it was Knight smacking home a loose puck in the crease at 15:43.

 

In the old days, this would have been the backbreaker for the Finns, but not now, not in 2017. They drew within a goal thanks to a wicked shot from Jenni Hiirikoski under the crossbar with 23.2 seconds left in the period, sending the Finns to the dressing room with some cause for hope.

 

That hope was substantiated midway through the final period when Michelle Karvinen flew down the left side, cut to the middle, and snapped a shot over Rigsby's glove to tie the game at 9:04.

 

"They capitalized on their chances," Stecklein added. "Whenever we made a turnover, they were coming back at us with speed and made the most of their shots. They played a great game."

 

Soon after Finland had a power play and didn't convert, and at 12:25 the U.S. regained the lead. Hannah Brandt tipped in a shot from the boards to send the home crowd into a frenzy, but we weren't done yet.

 

The Americans incurred a too-many-men penalty, followed by a hooking penalty by Alex Carpenter. The U.S., though, killed off the lengthy 3-on-5 to dodge a bullet.

 

 Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson aded an empty-netter with one minute left.

 

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WOMEN'S

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

2017

 

 

 

 

 

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Germany - Switzerland  2-4

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