Ice Hockey 2015 - 2016 Discussion Thread

[hckošice 14,829]

Finns outlast Russia

Niskanen hot as defending bronze medalists win

Finland's Jenni Hiirikoski #6 celebrates a second period goal against Russia with Michelle Karvinen #21, Riikka Valila #13, Rosa Lindstedt #4 and Petra Nieminen #11 during preliminary round action at the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey Women's World Championship.

 

 

In a rematch of last year’s bronze medal game, Finland beat Russia 5-3 at the Sandman Centre. Special teams dominated, as both sides had two power play goals.

 

Tanja Niskanen scored twice and added an assist, and Jenni Hiirikoski, Ronja Savolainen, and Noora Tulus had singles for Finland, which defeated the Russians for third place last year in Malmo, Sweden.

Iya Gavrilova had a pair of unassisted goals, and Anna Shibanova also scored for Russia. The Russians have medaled twice in tournament history, winning bronze in 2001 and 2013.

"Of course, they scored three times," said Hiirikoski. "Maybe too much. But whatever! We scored five times today, and Tanja was on fire. It was good."

Finnish starting goalie Meeri Raisanen got the win versus Russian counterpart Nadezhda Morozova in this spirited, up-and-down affair. Finland outshot Russia 28-25.

"Obviously I’m not glad about the result," said Russia's Alexandra Vafina. "The luck wasn’t on our side. We had so many chances. The game was really good, pretty fast. I’m just a little bit disappointed."

Niskanen broke a scoreless tie with 1:18 left in the first period when she circled into the slot and beat Morozova high to the blocker side with a smart wrister.

The Russians drew even at 11:44 of the second period. On a nice solo effort, Gavrilova danced out from behind the goal line and surprised Raisanen with her quick release. It is Gavrilova’s tenth IIHF Women’s World Championship dating back to 2004

With the towering Rosa Lindstedt providing the screen in front, Hiirikoski’s centre point shot trickled home to put Finland up 2-1 less than three minutes later.

The Finns took a penalty for too many players on the ice, and it cost them. Russia struck back with Shibanova’s great one-timer from the right faceoff circle at 15:43 to make it 2-2.

Finland jumped ahead again at 3:31 of the third. Working on a 5-on-4, Niskanen tried to find Venla Hovi standing on the doorstep in front and the puck found its way past Morozova.

"I have played with her this season in Jyvaskyla so I know how good she can be," Hiirikoski said of Niskanen.

However, Russia wasn't done yet. Vafina provided the screen as Gavrilova cut out of the corner to the goalie’s left and zipped it home at 7:05 with the man advantage.

But then the Finns pulled away.

At 8:07, Savolainen cruised in off the blue line and took a rising shot that found twine past Morozova’s right post.

Finland went up 5-3 at 10:35 when Noora Tulus corraled a rebound on her backhand and flung it past the goalie.

Vafina missed on a partial breakaway late in the game, dinging it off the crossbar. That was as close as the Russians would get.

"We will keep trying harder next time," said Vafina.

Tough tests loom. Next up for Russia is host Canada on Tuesday. The Finns will play the Americans in the early game at the Sandman Centre that day.

"We just have to be brave and do our best," said Hiirikoski. "Keep the puck moving. Let’s see what happens."

 

[hckošice 14,829]

Sweden - Czech Republic  3-2

 

[hckošice 14,829]

Carlsson to the rescue

Last-minute goal lifts Swedes over Czechs

Sweden's Pernilla Winberg #16 celebrates a third period goal while Czech Republic's Klara Peslarova #29 looks on dejected during preliminary round action at the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey Women's World Championship

 

 

Olivia Carlsson scored with eight seconds left in regulation to give Sweden a 3-2 win over the newly promoted Czech Republic on Monday.

 

It was both a heartbreaking and heartening start to the tournament for the Czechs, who have only appeared once at an elite IIHF Women’s World Championship before. Interestingly, in their debut in Ottawa 2013, they upset Sweden 3-2. It’s still their only win in Women’s Worlds history.

The Damkronorna, who outshot the Czechs 31-18, narrowly avoided making the same mistake twice. They will now set their sights on Japan on Tuesday. The Czechs will battle the Swiss earlier that day.

This game was nearly half over when Petra Herzigova beat Swedish goalie Sara Grahn to open the scoring for the Czechs. Sweden’s Sabrina Lambertz Kuller tied it up with a shorthanded tally with 2:24 remaining in the middle frame.

The teams exchanged goals in the first half of the third period. Hanna Olsson gave Sweden its first lead of the night on the power play at 1:22, but Aneta Ledlova notched the equalizer at 7:58.

Carlsson’s late winner was her first goal in 10 career Women’s Worlds games. Pulling Czech netminder Klara Peslarova with eight seconds left for an extra attacker was a brave but futile gesture.

Sweden is looking for its first medal at a top-level IIHF women’s event since 2007 (bronze).

[hckošice 14,829]

United States - Canada  3-1

 

 

 

[hckošice 14,829]

Stars and Stripes succeed

Americans rally to edge host Canada on Day One

USA's Hilary Knight #21 with a scoring chance against Canada's Emerance Maschmeyer #30 while Marie-Philip Poulin #29 defends during preliminary round action at the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey Women's World Championship.

 

 

The defending champion U.S. bounced back to beat Canada 3-1 in an exciting first-day showdown between the likely finalists at a sold-out Sandman Centre.

 

Hilary Knight scored twice and Brianna Decker had the winner for the Americans. Knight and Decker finished 1-2 in tournament scoring last year.

"We stuck to it, focused on ourselves, and put ‘em in when it counted," said Decker.

Laura Fortino replied for Canada, which drew first blood early in the third period but couldn't hold on to the lead.

The Americans have won six out of the last eight Women’s Worlds, but Canada is the reigning four-time Olympic champion. The U.S. defeated Canada 7-5 in the 2015 gold medal game in Malmo, Sweden. So there was plenty of pride on the line. It was a hard-fought but clean game.

"It was a good start to the tournament," said the U.S.'s Monique Lamoureux. "Obviously it was a little bit sloppy for us, not connecting on some passes and some turnovers. We’ll want to eliminate those down the road in the tournament. But you win games in different ways."

As has become the norm between the North American archrivals in recent years, the U.S. had better wheels and puck movement overall, but Canada countered with its tenacious, never-say-die attitude.

Canadian goalie Emerance Maschmeyer looked good in her first career Women’s Worlds start, going head-to-head with the U.S.’s Alex Rigsby. Last year, Maschmeyer was Canada’s third goalie and did not play. The U.S. outshot Canada 38-23.

"It’s always disappointing getting a loss, especially against the U.S," said Maschmeyer. "It doesn’t feel good, but it gives us motivation to get them back again."

The Americans enjoyed the territorial advantage in the first period. Maschmeyer was tested from every angle during a U.S. two-man advantage that lasted over a minute.

"The big positive to take out of this game is that we killed off two 5-on-3’s," said Fortino. "We were dominant all game. Moving forward, I think we’re really going to believe in our special teams."

In the second period, the torrid pace continued. Rigsby slid across to make a great save on Brianne Jenner’s one-timer off the rush. The U.S. came close to taking the lead off an Anne Pankowski near-breakaway.

The third period was hell bent for leather. The partisan red-and-white crowd at the Sandman Centre was loud and excited.

Fortino put Canada on the board 14 seconds in on the power play. Natalie Spooner and Meghan Agosta had come within a hair's-breadth of scoring during a goalmouth scramble. Fortino snared the puck above the hash marks and whizzed it over a prone Rigsby.

"I feel like I assisted on their first goal," said Monique Lamoureux. "I passed it right to [Fortino]. But I thought we bounced back and played well."

Just past the four-minute mark of the third period, Maschmeyer made a stellar glove save on the U.S.'s Dana Trivigno to maintain the lead. Krzyzaniak nearly put Canada up by two when she put one off the crossbar moments later.

Halfway through the third, Knight burst into the Canadian zone on the left side and unleashed a wrister that tipped off Krzyzaniak's stick and over Maschmeyer's glove to tie it at 1-1.

With 6:05 left, Decker gave the Americans the lead, pouncing on the rebound from a Monique Lamoureux drive in the slot and capitalizing.

In the dying moments, the Canadians pulled Maschmeyer for a sixth skater and used up their timeout, but to no avail. Knight added an empty-netter with 20 seconds left.

"We’ve just got to find a way to put the puck in the net more 5-on-5, and continue to work on building off the momentum we generated on our kill there," said Canadian coach Laura Schuler.

"I think we came in with the mindset that we need to get better," said U.S. coach Ken Klee. "And obviously we’re pleased with the win, but we can certainly improve in a lot of areas."

The game saw the return of three famous Canadian veterans who did not play at the 2015 tournament: forwards Hayley Wickenheiser and Meghan Agosta and defender Meaghan Mikkelson.

On Tuesday, the Americans will face Finland, while Canada takes on Russia.

 

[nenad 442]

We beat Belgium today 2:1 in U18 in Spain even though we got 10min suspension in the last period

[hckošice 14,829]

IIHF Women's Ice Hockey Division I Group A World Championships 2016

Aalborg (DEN) - 25.03.2016 - 31.03.2016

 

 

Round-Robin

6 Nations, Round-Robin Tournament, 1st Nation will be IIHF Women's Ice Hockey Division I Group A World Championships 2016 Champion

 

Day 4 Results

 

Austria  4 - 1   Slovakia      

(Score by Period: 1-0, 0-1, 3-0)

29th March 2016, h. 13:00 (GMT +2), Gigantium Arena, Aalborg

 

France  0 - 5  Germany        

(Score by Period: 0-1, 0-0, 0-4)

29th March 2016, h. 16:30 (GMT +2), Gigantium Arena, Aalborg

 

Denmark  3 - 2  Norway    

(Score by Period: 2-1, 1-0, 0-1)

29th March 2016, h. 20:00 (GMT +2), Gigantium Arena, Aalborg

 

 

Provisional Standing After Day 4

RANK	NATION	GAME	WINS	W(OT)	L(OT)	LOSE	SCORE	POINTS
1	Germany	4	4	0	0	0	15:4	12
2	France	4	3	0	0	1	11:7	9
3	Austria	4	2	1	0	1	13:9	8
4	Denmark	4	2	0	0	2	11:10	6
5	Norway	4	0	0	1	3	6:14	1
6	Slovakia	4	0	0	0	4	4:16	0

 

 

Following Nations Have Qualified for Women´s IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships 2017

• Germany

Edited March 29, 2016 by hckosice

[hckošice 14,829]

Germans back in 2017

Promoted to top women’s division

The German women’s national team celebrates promotion back to the top division for the 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship. 

 

2017 is the year on the Germans’ helmet. It will see the country host the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship – and the women’s team back in the top division.

After four out of four rounds the Germans won the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship Division I Group A in Aalborg, Denmark, to earn a swift return to the top division.

A double from Laura Kluge and a shutout from Jennifer Harss sends Germany back into the top division of women’s hockey and booked the team its ticket to Plymouth, USA, in 2017. The Germans beat its nearest rival in the standings, France, 5-0 on Tuesday.

“I can’t find words. It was such a great team effort,” explains an ecstatic Germany assistant captain Andrea Lanzl outside of her team’s dressing room that has been filled with cheers and singing still 10 minutes after the win.

“It is amazing! It is my first championship that we win and I am very happy,” said Laura Kluge

“It feels great! We are super happy about it. It feels awesome,” says an excited German goalkeeper Jennifer Harss.

Harss made 16 saves to record her second consecutive shutout, knocking aside everything that was shot at her. The three-year-veteran has by far been the stand-out goaltender in Aalborg and proved that once again against France. The 28-year-old made crucial saves throughout the afternoon, but none more-so with her team only 1-0 up in the first period when she kicked aside a shot from Amandine Cuasnit, after the Frenchwomen found herself with a free shooting lane 11:10 into the period.

“My team has played super-well in front of me and that helps me a lot,” said Harss about her players and continued. “I knew what kind of games I had to expect coming here. I was mentally prepared for not seeing as many shots, but being mentally ready. That was my main focus.”

Young championship-leading goal and point scorer Laura Kluge netted twice to continue her hot form in Denmark, helping her team onto victory. The 19-year-old, who is in just her second year with the senior women’s national team, has impressed with her 6 goals and 3 assists to currently sit at the top of both the individual goal and point scoring standings with one game day still to play.

“I have no idea if I am leading or not,” says a shy and modest Kluge. “I think we have done a good job playing as a team.”

Player-of-the-Match against France, Andrea Lanzl scored three points, assisting twice and getting a goal of her own. Lanzl has been with the German team since their Olympic campaign in 2014. The 28-year-old from Starnberg felt the pain of relegation from the top division last year and says that it was always the goal for the ladies to get back up to the top as soon as possible.

“It was our plan, our goal, to get up as soon as possible. We know what was going on in the top division and we wanted to go back,” said Lanzl.

“We knew how difficult it would be to go back up, so we went straight with our game plan the whole tournament. We were so self-confident. Everyone knew their role in the team and we had great coaching staff that always said that we could do it.”

With the goal of always returning to the top division and staying as competitive as possible, the Germans prepared for the Division I Group A by playing exhibition games against many of the top-flight European teams like Sweden, Finland and Russia. This strategy was to keep them as sharp and fast as possible and to ensure that they would control the games in Aaalborg, and give them the best possible chance of promotion. Their plan worked.

“We needed those games to play at the higher level, to have the speed of the game and be fast. To battle against the good teams helps us in this situation. We had to go and make the game,” explained Lanzl.

Germany will celebrate their win, no doubt long into the night and for the coming months, but it will be back to business in the summer when they prepare for the 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championships in Plymouth and for the Final Olympic Qualification tournament in February.

“As of right now, I can only focus on this tournament but it is going to be great to go up. We are going to work hard in the summer for the World Championships and for the Olympic Qualification,” says Jennifer Harss.

“We will take this self-confidence with us. We know there is no stop and we have to keep getting better every game and tournament. We know that there is more we have to bring. It takes time but we will take the time to work on those things,” says a determined Andrea Lanzl

 

[hckošice 14,829]

IIHF Men's Under 18 Ice Hockey Division II Group B World Championships 2016

Valdemoro (ESP) - 26.03.2016 - 01.04.2016

 

 

Round-Robin

6 Nations, Round-Robin Tournament, 1st Nation will be IIHF Men's Under 18 Ice Hockey Division II Group B World Championships 2016 Champion

 

Day 3 Results

 

Estonia  3 - 2   China    

(Score by Period: 1-0, 1-1, 1-1)

29th March 2016, h. 13:00 (GMT +2), Francisco Fernandez Ochoa Arena, Valdemoro

 

Serbia  2 - 1  Belgium        

(Score by Period: 1-1, 1-0, 0-0)

29th March 2016, h. 16:30 (GMT +2), Francisco Fernandez Ochoa Arena, Valdemoro

 

Spain  3 - 0  Iceland      

(Score by Period: 1-0, 0-0, 2-0)

29th March 2016, h. 20:00 (GMT +2), Francisco Fernandez Ochoa Arena, Valdemoro

 

 

Provisional Standing After Day 3

RANK	NATION	GAME	WINS	W(OT)	L(OT)	LOSE	SCORE	POINTS
1	Estonia	3	3	0	0	0	18:5	9
2	Spain	3	3	0	0	0	14:4	9
3	Iceland	3	1	0	0	2	9:11	3
4	Serbia	3	1	0	0	2	7:10	3
5	Belgium	3	1	0	0	2	6:16	3
6	China	3	0	0	0	3	7:15	0

[Gianlu33 4,569]

Wow,  what a disaster for Slovakia