Ice Hockey IIHF World Championships 2017

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WOMEN'S

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2017

 

 

 

 

 

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Czech Republic - Switzerland  1-2 After GWS

 

 

 

 

 

 

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WOMEN'S

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Czech Republic - Switzerland  1-2 After GWS

 

Swiss win in a shootout

Meier scores winner after 65 tense minutes

 

Christine Meier scored the only goal in a ten-shot shootout to give Switzerland a 2-1 win over the Czech Republic in the first game of the 2017 Women's Worlds.

 

Meier put a nice deke on Klara Peslarova and tucked the puck in the far side for the win.

 

"Alina Muller took the shot before me, and I noticed [the goalie] was really open on the left side," Meier described. "At first, I thought about shooting there as well, but she covered the side a bit better, so I went to my backhand. At least it went in!"

 

Much of the emotion in the game lay in the fact that these two teams--almost the same rosters, in fact--played for a spot in the 2018 Olympics just last month. The Swiss emerged victorious, 4-1 on February 12, before a wild crowd in Arosa, earning a trip to PyeongChang at the expense of the Czechs.

 

"It was probably easier for us to play them today because we could relax knowing we had beaten them," Swiss forward Alina Muller said. "We were able to relax because we've reached our goal of making the Olympics. But the Czechs played well and checked us closely."

Czech Tereza Vanisova, the goalscorer this afternoon, agreed. "There was more pressure on us last month because we lost to them for the Olympics," she said. "That was very had to accept, so today was much easier to play."

 

Today's game was decided by special teams, even though neither side was particularly effective with the extra man until late in the game. Indeed, both teams had legnthy 5-on-3 situations without creating much in the way of scoring chances. 

 

The game turned late in the second period during a Swiss power play, but it wasn't the odd-man situation that created the goal. The Czechs cleared the puck down the ice, and in a hurry to move it back up, goaltender Florence Schelling skated nearly to the blue line and fired a corss-ice pass that was intercepted by Tereza Vanisova.

 

Vanisova eluded a check and backhanded the puck into the wide-open cage from well out, capitalizing on a rare error from Schelling.

"She wanted to make a pass to her defence, but I saw it and skated in between to get the puck," Vanisova said.

 

"It didn't worry us at all," Muller said. "She's a great goalie, and we knew we would score one for her."

 

Schelling was starting her 22nd straight game for the Swiss, playing every minute of every game since April 3, 2013, when Sophie Anthamatten got the start against Canada. Since then Schelling has played the last three games of that 2013 Women's Worlds, every game in Sochi, every game at the 2015 and 2016 WW, every game at last month's Olympic qualification, and today's game. 

 

"I didn't know that," Schelling enthused. "That's a pretty neat fact."

 

The first period was tense but without many great chances, both teams firing ten mostly harmless shots on goal. In the second, the Czechs had a two-man advantage for 64 seconds but couldn't move the puck around crisply enough to free up a good shot.

 

Later, it was the Swiss with 48 seconds with two extra skaters, but they, too, failed to test the goalie, Klara Peslarova.

 

It looked like the Czechs would hang on for a 1-0 win, but late in the third Simona Studentova took a hooking penalty, and the Swiss struck back. Muller made a sensational pass through traffic right on the tape for Evelina Raselli to tip in at 16:15, tying the score and sending the game to overtime and a shootout.

 

"The Czechs knew that I was usually passing back to Lara [Stalder] at the point, so I tried something different and Evelina was open," Muller said. "I'm glad it worked."

 

[bestmen 2,818]

strange results , Germany is beating sweden

 

f...... i predicted czech and sweden as winners

[bestmen 2,818]

all my predictions are wrong .........mostly finland beats russia

sweden is more powerful than germany

last year czech beaten switzerland easly

 

 

what a f........ of hell are those results

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Sweden - Germany  1-3

 

 

 

 

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Sweden - Germany  1-3

 

Germany stuns Sweden

Promoted for this year, win opener, 3-1

 

Germany broke a 1-1 tie with two goals late in the second period and skated to a surprising 3-1 win over Sweden at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth, Michigan.

 

The goal spurt was a great reaction to an own goal by Ronja Jenike, which had cancelled a well-earned 1-0 lead.

 

The win adds motivation to a German team that has had its ups and downs over the last year. They earned promotion to Plymouth after finishing first in Division I-A last year, but at the Olympic qualifications a few weeks ago they lost the final game to Japan, 3-1, and failed to earn a place in PyeongChang.

 

"Our focus is on this tournament now, and to win as many games as possible," Manuela Anwander said. "We were disappointed we didn't qualify for the Olympics, but that's over now."

 

"They have a really great team, but I don't know why we lost," said Swedish forward Hanna Olsson. "We'll have to analyse this tonight. We played them before the tournament and know they play strong defence. But we didn't score." 

 

Nicola Eisenschmid opened the scoring at 2:40 of the second period on a power play. She was at the top of the crease and redirected a quick pass betwen the pads of Sara Grahn.

 

Three and a half minutes later, Lisa Johansson drove down the left wing. Her shot was stopped by Jennifer Harss, but defenceman Jenike was careless in clearing the rebound, snapping it into her own goal at 6:11 much to her own shock.

 

But the Germans proved resilient. They regained the lead at 18:47 on a nice play off a faceoff. Laura Kluge won the draw, and Anwander stepped into the circle and wired a high shot over Grahn's shoulder before she could react.

 

"I got a quick shot, which was important," Anwander said. "It's happened to me a lot this year that I get the puck on the same play and try a move, but it often didn't work. This time, I just decided to shoot right away, and it went in."

 

Then, with just 52.3 seconds left in the period, the Germans made it 3-1, converting a turnover inside the Sweden blue line. Captain Julia Zon made a nice pass to Andrea Lanzl, and she wired a shot in for the two-goal lead.

 

In the third, theh Germans were masterful in holding the lead without backing into their own zone, and try as they might the Swedes could draw no closer.

 

"We played them a lot this year," Anwander added, "and that helped. We knew what to do and what not to do, and we avoided too many mistakes today. That was important."

 

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Finland - Russia  1-2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Finland - Russia  1-2

 

Russians beat Finland late, 2-1

Goal in final minute wins it

 

Yekaterina Smolentseva scored on the power play with only 50 seconds remaining in regulation time to give Russia a 2-1 win over Finland.

 

It was the first game for both teams to start the 2017 Women’s World Championships in Plymouth, Michigan.

 

“We stuck to our game plan today,” said Russian forward Iya Gavrilova. “We were aggressive and wanted to trap them in the neutral zone, and I think we did that well.”

 

The win puts Russia in a tie with the United States atop the Group A standings after a hectic day in which all eight teams played. A similar schedule follows tomorrow as the Finns play Canada at night while the Russians play the pumped-up Americans in a matinee at the USA Hockey Arena, home of the U.S. National Team Development Program.

 

Finland lost a tight 1-0 game to Russia in a shootout in last year’s bronze-medal game.

 

“It was a power play,” Smolentseva explained of her winning tally this afternoon. “Anna [Shibanova] was on the half boards and passed it down low to Alexandra [Vafina]. She passed it to me back door to finish it off. It was a big goal for us.”

 

“It was our first game,” noted Anna Shibanova, “but I thought we played pretty well. Right now, though, everyone has an equal chance to win. We’ll try to win as many games as we can, so this is a good start.”

 

Russia had tied the game 1-1 early in the third period on an unassisted goal by Fanuza Kadirova, who is still a few days shy of her 19^th birthday and already in her third Women’s Worlds.

 

After a scoreless first period, Finland got the opening goal thanks to 43-year-old IIHF Hall of Famer Rikka Valila early in the middle frame. 

“I think our only good period was the second,” goalie Noora Raty said. Raty was making her first appearance with Suomi since retiring after the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. “The first we were just skating our nerves off and in the third we ran into penalty trouble.”

 

As for her own play after a lengthy absence, she was pleased. “I felt pretty good,” she said. “I controlled the rebounds and didn’t give them many second chances. It sucks to lose, though.”

 

Finland’s lack of discipline was a key factor not on the scoreboard but in terms of momentum. The team took seven minors to Russia’s four, halting good play and giving Russians a chance to control the puck too often.

 

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United States - Canada  2-0

 

 

 

 

 

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United States - Canada  2-0

 

No rust on these hosts

Hensley outduels Szabados in 2-0 win

 

The Americans may have been a few practises shy of being fully game ready, but they showed no signs of rust, and their rivalry with Canada was just the ticket.

 

Nicole Hensley stopped all 18 shots from Canada in only her second career start in World Women's Championship play, backstopping the host United States to a huge 2-0 win over Canada to start the tournament for both countries.

 

Brianna Decker and Gigi Marvin were the goalscorers for a Team USA that utilized its speed to full effect.

 

"I thought we skated really well and played with a lot of emotion," Monique Lamoureux said after. 

 

"Our team fed off the energy from the crowd and we pressed the whole game," Decker added. "We moved our feet well, moved the puck as quick as possible. That was the key."

 

"We're so united, so strong as a group," Marvin enthused. "We were itching to be on the ice, and I think we displayed that beautifully, the support on the ice. We were couldn't wait to get out there. It was a great first game."

 

"I don't think we were as ready as we should have been," admitted Canada's newly-minted captain, Marie-Philip Poulin. "They got up to their pace right away. We were better in the third but you can't win a game with 20 minutes of good play."

 

The United States and Canada played exactly the kind of game they always do, the kind of game that shows the world what women's hockey can be like. Played with often long stretches without a whistle, the game was end-to-end exciting and lived up to all the pre-tournament hype.

 

Shannon Szabados was making her first start for Canada since the Sochi Olympics threee years ago, but she showed why the Columbus Cottonmouths of the SPHL have used her in a men's league for the last three years.

 

She kept the game scoreless midway through the opening period by making a pad save on what looked like a sure goal off the stick of Kali Flanagan, who took a pass from Alex Carpenter from in close.

 

Early in the second, it was Canada that nearly scored. Poulin flew down the left wing on a two-on-one, but rather than pass she elected to try her luck with a high shot to the short side. It beat Hensley but rang sharply off the post to keep the game scoreless.

 

The U.S. sped up ice with relentless force, and dominated for many stretches of play in the second. Just when it seemed they had taken over, though, Canada came back with a dominating shift of its own. But neither side could break the ice, as it were.

 

And then, fianlly, a goal. Megan Bozek flew down the right wing, curled around the goal, and slid the puck through the crease. Szabados covered the post, but the puck came to Decker on the back side, and she quickly smacked it in at 17:54 for a well-earned 1-0 lead.

 

Canada came out flying to start the third but again couldn't connect around the goal. Hensley was letter perfect when she needed to be. The hosts increased their lead to 2-0 at 4:49 after Canada failed to clear a loose puck. Gigi Marvin took a quick shot that was redirected in front, fooling Szabados and giving the U.S. a much-needed insurance goal.

 

 Both teams are right back at it tomorrow. The U.S. has the short rest, playing a midday game agianst the Russians. Canada, meanwhile, plays Finland in the evening.