hckošice

WOMEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Quarterfinal - 3Avs2B Finland - Sweden 4-0 HIGHLIGHTS

WOMEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Relegation Round - Match 1 Switzerland - Czech Republic 2-4 Serie Standing 0-1 HIGHLIGHTS

WOMEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Quarterfinal - 4Avs1B Russia - Germany 1-2 Germany does it! Delarbre's late goal defeats Russia, 2-1 It's official. Germany is the Cinderella team of the 2017 Women's World Championships. It has defeated Russia, 2-1, and qualifies for Thursday's semi-finals. The hero of the moment is Marie Delarbre who scored midway through the third period to break a 1-1 deadlock. Rebecca Graeve got the puck at the point and made a sensational slap-pass to Delarbre by the side of the goal. She redirected the puck to perfection, beating Nadezhda Alexandrova who was expecting a shot from the point. The goal came at 9:12 and proved to be the winner. "I was standing back door and Rebecca made a great play getting the puck to me," Delarbre said. "I didn't think; I just got my stick on the puck. It was fantastic." The Russians almost tied the game in the final minute with Alexandrova on the bench, but Olga Sosina's shot rang off the post and stayed out. "Sometimes you need to get lucky to win, and my post helped me out there," Harss said with a wide smile. The Germans will play the United States at 7.30pm Thursday night for a place in the gold-medal game. Russia will now face Sweden in the 5th/6th place game. "We seized the opportunity," Delarbre said. "Our coach gave us details to worry about, our game plan, how to think, and that helped us a lot." The result ensures Germany of at least a fourth-place finish, making it the highest placing ever at the WW for a newly-promoted team (Switzerland was fifth in 2005) and the highest finish for Germany in any year (it finished fifth in 2013). The performance is all the more impressive given that last year the team played in Division I and in mid-February of this year the team failed to qualify for the 2018 Olympics. "We were all pretty upset we didn't quailfy," Delarbre admitted, "but that's life. You have to keep your head up and look forward." "We never gave up," Harss enthused. "We kept pushing and we believed in ourselves. We started off well this tournament, and kept going, and we got momentum. We had nothing to lose tonight, but Russia had all the pressure. They had to win." The only time Germany had defeated Russia in six previous meetings was back in 2005. Russia got on the board early, scoring at 2:36 of the opening period off two great plays. First, Alevtina Shtaryova fired a great pass from the left boards to Anna Shokhina in the slot. Shokhina then displayed great hands and patience, deking Harss and tucking the puck in behind her. "I know my team can score goals," Harss said, "so that gives me confidence. After they scored, it felt like no big deal. It was one shot. I knew we could come back." The Russians controlled the period but Germany never seemed overwhelmed or intimidated by the moment. In the second, the Germans came right back to tie the score and really should have had a couple of more goals to boot. Germany had a great chance to tie early in the second when Marie Delarbre fed Nina Kamenik in the slot, but Kamenik bobbled the puck and couldn't get off a good shot. A little while later, Iya Gavrilova had Harss beat but hit the post with her shot along the ice. Russia incurred two early penalties in the middle 20 but killed these off despite some good pressure by the Germans. After killing a penalty of its own, Germany drew three penalties in short order resulting in two lengthy 5-on-3 situations. The Germans didn't take long to capitalize. Julia Zorn fed Kerstin Spielberger with a soft pass that Spielberger ripped to the far side, tying the game at 14:44. But they maintained a 5-on-3 and couldn't do further damage. Teams left the ice tied, 1-1, a score the Germans were happy with, the Russians not so much. And then the improbable happened. Delarbre scored, and Germany is in the semi-finals.

WOMEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Quarterfinal - 4Avs1B Russia - Germany 1-2

WOMEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Quarterfinal - 3Avs2B Finland - Sweden 4-0 Finns outclass Sweden Semi-finals date with Canada set Finland is playing like it belongs with the North Americans and has distanced itself from the pack in Europe. Tonight's 4-0 win was just another example. Finland overwhelmed Sweden to the tune of 4-0 today to earn another crack at Canada on Thursday. That semi-finals game at 3.30pm will be an elimination game and will give the women's hockey world a better indication of where Suomi stands. Its 4-3 win over Canada and close 5-3 loss to the U.S. within the last few days ago has raised the bar significantly. The Finns limited Sweden to just 16 shots on their own Noora Raty, including just one in the final period, while firing 42 at Sara Grahn. "Everyone did their job today, and we played well as a team," Sara Sakkinen, one of the goalscorers for Finland, said. "We stuck to our game plan, and we're learning to trust each other and to play with confidence. We've put a lot of hard work into getting to where we are today." Sweden will now play in the 5th/6th placement game earlier in the day on Thursday against the loser of tonight's Russia-Germany tilt. "They have a good team," acknowledged Pernilla Winberg of Sweden. "They played tough from the beginning, and we had a bad first ten minutes. We were supposed to come out hard, but it didn't go our way today." "We were solid for sixty minutes, and now we have so much conifidence getting ready to play Canada," Finland's Susanna Tapani enthused. "We scored the first goal again, and that really helps. We haven't always done that. We feel good in our zone, and now we feel we can play in their zone as well." Finland started like a house of fire and never let up. The first goal came at 4:19 after a Rosa Lindstedt shot went wide of the goal and bounced quickly back to the crease. Sakkinen lifted the loose puck over Grahn for the early lead. Less than three minutes later, the Finns doubled their lead on a play that also started with a point shot. This time Minttu Tuominen took a low shot that was tipped in by Linda Valimaki standing right at the top of Grahn's crease. Suomi made it 3-0 just 3:03 into the second on a power play. Jenni Hiirikoski, the best female defenceman in the world, nailed a low slapshot that Grahn couldn't get over to cover. The Finns were better in every aspect of the game. Their speed off the rush intimidated the Swedes and kept them on their heels, and the Finnish defence was airtight, allowing only shots from the outside and protecting Raty to perfection. As well, the Finns are now a team with some size and physicality, adding another element to their game all over the ice. Finland put an accent on the win with a great goal at 8:53 of the third. Riikka Valila found Tapani all alone in front and made a perfect pass to her. Tapani cradled the puck for a moment, took aim, and drilled a high shot over the glove of Grahn. "Coming in as underdogs, I thought we had a good chance today," Winberg said. "The last couple of years we've been fifth or so, so we were hoping to get past the quarter-finals. Now, we have to aim for fifth again, so that's what we'll do."

WOMEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Quarterfinal - 3Avs2B Finland - Sweden 4-0

oh yeah...thats famous dutch humour

Mens Division II Group B World Championships 2017 in Auckland (NZL) Day 2 Schedule (5th April 2017) GMT +12 13:00 Mexico vs Israel 16:30 North Korea vs Turkey 20:00 China vs New Zealand Mens Under 18 Division II Group A World Championships 2017 in Gangneung, PyeongChang (KOR) Day 3 Schedule (5th April 2017) GMT +9 12:00 Romania vs Estonia (Gangneung Hockey Arena) 16:30 Lithuania vs Great Britain (Kwandong Hockey Center) 21:00 South Korea vs Croatia (Gangneung Hockey Arena) Livestream - Kwandong Centre Livestream - Gangneung Centre Womens Division II Group A World Championships 2017 in Gangneung, PyeongChang (KOR) Day 3 Schedule (5th April 2017) GMT +9 12:00 Netherlands vs Slovenia (Kwandong Hockey Center) 16:30 Great Britain vs North Korea (Gangneung Hockey Arena) 21:00 South Korea vs Australia (Kwandong Hockey Center) Livestream - Kwandong Centre Livestream - Gangneung Centre

WOMEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Relegation Round - Match 1 Switzerland - Czech Republic 2-4 Serie Standing 0-1 Czechs go one up Swiss rally falls short in 4-2 loss First, the Czech penalty killers did their job. Then the Czech offence, which had sputtered so far, got going. The result was a huge relegation-round win. The Czechs killed off four penalties in the opening period and emerged ahead 2-0 en route to a tight 4-2 win over the Swiss in the first game of a best-of-three relegation-round series. Klara Peslarova was excellent in goal for the Czechs, stopping 27 of 29 shots in the victory. The relegation series features teams with two radically different histories at this tournament. The Swiss have been out of the top division only once, in 2005, while the Czechs have been up only three times--2013, 2016, and this year. The Czechs had managed only one goal in each of their three preliminary-round games--all losses--so today's offense was much needed and timely. "Finally we scored more than one goal," a relieved Katerina Mrazova said. "They have a really good power play, but we prepared well for that, and that's why we won." The first period could not have gone worse for the Swiss. They had a 5-on-3 for 1:27 early in the game, and although they passed the puck around crisply they didn't force Peslarova to make one difficult save. "We didn't have a good start, and by the time we got going it was too late," veteran Swiss defenceman Sarah Forster lamented. "We have to forget about this and get ready for the next game." To their credit, the Czechs clogged the area in front of her goal, and when the they incurred another penalty a short time later, they did more of the same. Time and again the Swiss fired wide of the goal, allowing the Czechs to escape the difficult situation. "They didn't hit the net, but our penalty killers did a really good job," Mrazova noted. "After that, they were down and we were up because our p.k. was so good." And then, of course, the Czechs scored on their first decent chance. The goal, at 14:29, was the result of a Schelling rebound and lax coverage in front of her, allowing Tereza Vanisova to lift a puck in for a surprising Czech lead. The Czechs survived another short-handed situation and then made it 2-0. This time a turnover in the corner allowed Mrazova to cut in on goal and slide the puck under Schelling from an awkward angle. A period in which the Swiss should have emerged from with a lead instead ended with the Czechs up, 2-0. Despite their desperate situation, the Swiss came out flat in the second and the Czechs had several chances to up the score. At 10:43 they made it 3-0 when Aneta Ledlova walked out from the corner and snuck a shot under the arm of Schelling. As if to put an accent on their bad fortunes, Alina Muller rang a penalty shot off the post late in the period, leaving the Swiss still desperately in need of a goal. That didn't come until 12:23 of the third. Anja Stiefel made a nice pass to Lara Stalder in front, and her quick one-timer beat Peslarova to make it 3-1. Things got interesting quickly, though. Captain Livia Altmann wired a slapshot over Peslarova's glove just a minute and a half later, and a dormant Swiss team was now full of life and one shot away from tying the game. Czech coach Jiri Vozak called a timeout to calm down the players. "I think we got a little scared to play," Mrazova said. "We played back too much, so the timeout was helpful for us." Indeed, that was as close as the Swiss got. Ledlova added her second, an empty-netter, with 18.1 seconds left to seal the win and take control of the relegation series.

WOMEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Relegation Round - Match 1 Switzerland - Czech Republic 2-4 Serie Standing 0-1

MEN'S DIVISION II GROUP A WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DAY 2 Iceland 2 - 3 Australia Period-by-Period: 0-1, 2-1, 0-1 April 4th 2017, h. 13:00, Arena Galati, Galati Spain 3 - 5 Belgium Period-by-Period: 0-1, 0-2, 3-2 April 4th 2017, h. 16:30, Arena Galati, Galati Romania 4 - 1 Serbia Period-by-Period: 2-0, 0-1, 2-0 April 4th 2017, h. 20:00, Arena Galati, Galati Round-Robin Provisional Standing After Day 2 Nation P W(OTW) L(OTL) GF GA +/- Pt. Romania 2 2(0) 0(0) 13 2 +11 6 Australia 2 2(1) 0(0) 7 5 +2 5 Iceland 2 1(0) 1(0) 5 5 0 3 Belgium 2 1(0) 1(0) 6 12 -6 3 Serbia 2 0(0) 2(1) 4 8 -4 1 Spain 2 0(0) 2(0) 5 8 -3 0

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS 2016/2017 NETHERLANDS HEERENVEEN FLYERS 1st BeNe League Title 8th Dutch League Title ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Flying High Flyers Heerenveen back on the Dutch hockey throne One of three happy team photos for the Flyers Heerenveen, here with the trophy for the Belgian-Dutch BeNeLiga. For the third time this season, they were able to celebrate. The Flyers Heerenveen completed their raid with a 3-1 final series win over HYS The Hague and with that captured the triple; Not only did the team win the 2016-17 BeNeLiga season, the top league of the Netherlands and Belgium. The team also claimed the Dutch national and Dutch Cup trophies on the way to the season finale. A former powerhouse in the Netherlands, Heerenveen won seven straight league titles between 1977 and 1983. When the win streak was broken, it lasted over three decades before the team from the north of country could celebrate a championship again. With arch rivals Tilburg Trappers deciding to start playing in the German third-tier Oberliga, Heerenveen was crowned Dutch champions by virtue of being the highest-rank team in the Belgian/Dutch BeNeLiga despite the final series ending up won by Belgian team HYC Herentals last year. No such thing this year. The troops of head coach and former player Mike Nason were a dominant force all season long winning most of their regular season games. The success translated into the post-season as well as the team swept the Silverdome Panters and Liege Bulldogs on their way to the final. Where most people anticipated a repeat of last year’s final, it was HYS The Hague that sent the reigning BeNeLiga champion HYC Herentals packing. Game 1 saw Heerenveen taking an early 3-0 lead, but their opponents turned the deficit around with three power-play goals in the last 30 minutes of the game only to fall behind in the series in overtime; 4-3. Another three-goal effort in game 2 leveled the series. This time, on home ice, HYS The Hague turned a 3-2 deficit into a solid 5-3 surprise victory. Heerenveen took full advantage of playing on home ice winning game three of the series winning 4-3 before putting an end to the series in game 4. Adam Bezak, son of former Heerenveen and Czechoslovak national team player Marian Bezak, opened the scoring with 1:04 left to play in the first period. The Hague had to swallow a bitter pill when Kevin Nijland doubled the lead scoring a power-play goal four seconds before the buzzer. “Those two late first-period goals were of great value to us,” said coach Mike Nason. “The Hague certainly proved their worth and played tactically very strong and made it a genuine final series.” When veteran Tony Demelinne scored the Flyers’ third goal, the series was seemingly concluded but HYS The Hague did not give up and got a goal themselves via defenceman Thomas Roosendaal. Any hopes of another three-goal comeback were quickly put to and end though as long time national team player Marco Postma replied 100 seconds later to restore Heerenveen’s three-goal lead. In front of a packed Uithof arena with 3,300 spectators Captain Tony Demelinne could raise the team’s third trophy of the season. The Dutch Cup competition went to Heerenveen thanks to an 8-1 romping of the Eaters Limburg while the team also proved too strong for HYS The Hague in the Dutch Championships final; 5-3. “This BeNeLiga title is the most beautiful of all three,” Demelinne commented afterwards. “Because it’s won here in The Hague where I grew up and my parents live next to the ice rink. This series was a hard fought one and showed great entertainment for hockey fans in the Netherlands.” Meanwhile in Belgium, HYC Herentals rebounded from their semi-final BeNeLiga exit by winning the Belgian championship against the Liege Bulldogs. In a two-game series the Bulldogs won their home game 8-4 but HYC responded with a 6-2 victory in game 2. This forced the series to go into a 20 minutes overtime in which Herentals won 3-1 to reclaim the Belgian domestic championships title. With both domestic leagues concluded the focus shifted towards the upcoming World Championship tournaments. Belgium will participate in the 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division II Group A which started on Monday in Romania. In total 14 of the 20 players nominated appeared on either the HYC Herentals or Bulldogs Liege roster. Belgium will battle for promotion against hosts Romania, Australia, Spain, Serbia and Iceland. The Dutch will have to wait a bit longer after gaining promotion to Division I Group B. The tournament in Belfast won’t start until 23rd April. With Tilburg Trappers still active in the Oberliga playoffs, head coach Chris Eimers selected a large pre-tournament roster consisting out of 60 players. Main headliner on the roster is that of Amsterdam-born, Pittsburgh Penguins prospect Daniel Sprong who has not donned the Orange jersey in official competition before. In preparation to the tournament, the Dutch will play two exhibition games against Japan on 19 & 20 April. Japan will be one of the opponents in their division which also consists of hosts Great Britain, Lithuania, Croatia and Estonia.

[hide] Knockout Round April 4th - April 7th, 2017 6 Nations, Quarterfinals, Semifinals, Bronze Medal Match and Gold Medal Match. Quarterfinals Eastern Time Zone (GMT -4) Date and Venue Team 1 T1 T2 Team 2 April 3rd 2017, h. 15:35, USA Hockey Arena, Plymouth Finland 2 Sweden April 3rd 2017, h. 19:35, USA Hockey Arena, Plymouth Russia 2 Germany [/hide]

So, the Telenovela is over, after 5 consecutive WOG, the next years PyeongChang ice hockey mens tournament will be without NHL stars NHL opts out of PyeongChang League closes door on Olympic participation The National Hockey League will not participate in the 2018 Olympic Winter Games, it was announced by the league. “The IIHF is deeply disappointed to hear of Commissioner Bettman's decision not to have National Hockey League players take part in the 2018 Olympic Winter Games,” said IIHF President René Fasel. “While we respect the NHL’s reasons for not taking part, there is no hiding the fact that this is a decision that robs ice hockey fans of the world's greatest best-on-best international ice hockey competition, and our sport of a truly global platform that has been in place since 1998. At the end of the day, ice hockey loses here.” Following the IOC's decision not to cover costs such as insurance and travel for the NHL players, the IIHF worked to find a common ground that would have encouraged the NHL to continue to be a part of the Olympics. In light of the NHL’s refusal to participate in the 2018 Olympic Winter Games, the IIHF will discuss with the participating teams the best way forward and move on with preparations for PyeongChang 2018. “We have to remember that some of the greatest Olympic moments didn’t involve NHL players at all,” said Fasel. “We will move forward and continue preparations for PyeongChang. We still have the task to promote and build our game in Asia, and we will work hard towards this.” The NHL made the announcement to remove the Olympics from next year’s schedule on Monday: "We have previously made clear that while the overwhelming majority of our clubs are adamantly opposed to disrupting the 2017-18 NHL season for purposes of accommodating Olympic participation by some NHL players, we were open to hearing from any of the other parties who might have an interest in the issue (e.g., the IOC, the IIHF, the NHLPA, etc.) as to reasons the Board of Governors might be interested in re-evaluating their strongly held views on the subject," the NHL said in a statement. "A number of months have now passed and no meaningful dialogue has materialized. Instead, the IOC has now expressed the position that the NHL's participation in Beijing in 2022 is conditioned on our participation in South Korea in 2018. And the NHLPA has now publicly confirmed that it has no interest or intention of engaging in any discussion that might make Olympic participation more attractive to the clubs. As a result, and in an effort to create clarity among conflicting reports and erroneous speculation, this will confirm our intention to proceed with finalizing our 2017-18 regular season schedule without any break to accommodate the Olympic Winter Games. We now consider the matter officially closed." The NHL also cited player fatigue and a compressed schedule as other reasons for the decision to opt out of Olympic participation. The IOC’s implied conditions that participation in the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games hinging on 2018 was also a factor. However, the National Hockey League Players’ Association came out with a statement of its own, saying that its players “are extraordinarily disappointed and adamantly disagree with the NHL's shortsighted decision to not continue our participation in the Olympics.” "Any sort of inconvenience the Olympics may cause to next season's schedule is a small price to pay compared to the opportunity to showcase our game and our greatest players on this enormous international stage.” “A unique opportunity lies ahead with the 2018 and 2022 Olympics in Asia. The NHL may believe it is penalizing the IOC or the players, or both, for not giving the owners some meaningful concessions in order to induce them to agree to go to PyeongChang. Instead this impedes the growth of our great game by walking away from an opportunity to reach sports fans worldwide.” The International Olympic Committee released the following statement: “This must be a huge disappointment for the players who definitely wanted to play at the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018. The IOC feels very sorry for the athletes. “The decision is even more regrettable, as the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) had offered the same conditions to the NHL as at previous Olympic Games, where the insurance and travel costs were covered. “The IOC, which distributes 90 per cent of its revenue for the development of sport in the world, obviously cannot treat a national commercial league better than not-for-profit International Sports Federations which are developing sport globally. “The ice hockey tournament at the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 will nonetheless be a very exciting one, because the players from all the other professional ice hockey leagues will participate, and will be very much welcomed by their Olympic teams.”

Womens Top Division World Championships 2017 in Plymouth, Michigan (USA) Day 4 Schedule (4th April 2017) GMT -4 Quarterfinals 15:35 3A-2B Finland vs Sweden (USA National Hockey Arena 1) 19:35 4A-1B Russia vs Germany (USA National Hockey Arena 1) Relegation Round 12:00 Game 1 - Best of 3 Serie: Switzerland vs Czech Republic (USA National Hockey Arena 1)

Mens Under 18 Division II Group A World Championships 2017 in Gangneung, PyeongChang (KOR) Day 2 (4th April 2017) GMT +9 12:00 Croatia vs Estonia 3-4 After OT 16:30 Romania vs Lithuania 3-4 After OT 21:00 South Korea vs Great Britain 3-2

MEN'S DIVISION II GROUP B WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DAY 1 Mexico 5 - 1 North Korea Period-by-Period: 1-0, 3-1, 1-0 April 4th 2017, h. 13:00, Paradise Ice Skating Rink Botany Downs, Auckland Israel 2 - 5 China Period-by-Period: 1-2, 1-0, 0-3 April 4th 2017, h. 16:30, Paradise Ice Skating Rink Botany Downs, Auckland Turkey 1 - 4 New Zealand Period-by-Period: 0-1, 0-2, 1-1 April 4th 2017, h. 20:00, Paradise Ice Skating Rink Botany Downs, Auckland Round-Robin Provisional Standing After Day 1 Nation P W(OTW) L(OTL) GF GA +/- Pt. Mexico 1 1(0) 0(0) 5 1 +4 3 China 1 1(0) 0(0) 5 2 +3 3 New Zealand 1 1(0) 0(0) 4 1 +3 3 Israel 1 0(0) 1(0) 2 5 -3 0 Turkey 1 0(0) 1(0) 1 4 -3 0 North Korea 1 0(0) 1(0) 1 5 -4 0

WOMEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- United States - Finland 5-3 HIGHLIGHTS

WOMEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sweden - Czech Republic 3-1 HIGHLIGHTS

WOMEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Canada - Russia 8-0 HIGHLIGHTS

WOMEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Germany - Switzerland 2-4 HIGHLIGHTS

WOMEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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.

WOMEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- United States - Finland 5-3

WOMEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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.

WOMEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sweden - Czech Republic 3-1