The Two-Minute Minor
An edition of the Penalty Box Post
Wednesday, March 31st
Seven Gophers named to U.S. National Team roster for 2021 IIHF Women's World Championship in May
2020-2021 Gopher Women's Hockey senior Grace Zumwinkle and six (6) Minnesota alumnae – Megan Bozek, Hannah Brandt, Dani Cameranesi, Amanda Kessel, Kelly Pannek & Lee Stecklein – have been named to the U.S. Women’s National Team roster for the upcoming IIHF Women's World Championship, in Halifax & Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada from May 6 through 16.
The roster announcement concludes USA Hockey's Evaluation Camp, held at the National Sports Center in Blaine. As with the camp, we also add a shout-out to three members of the GWH staff supporting the national team: assistant coach Joel Johnson, head human performance coach Cal Dietz, and equipment manager Brent Proulx.
Team USA enters the World Championship as the 5-time defending champions, along with claiming the gold medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics. They will compete in Group A against host Canada, Finland, Russia, and Switzerland, though the finalized game schedule is TBA. All five Group A teams will advance to the Elimination Round, along with the top 3 teams from Group B consisting of Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, and Japan. Halifax & Truro were scheduled to host the 2020 tournament before it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Incoming Gopher Vetter invited to USA Hockey goaltending camp
In addition to naming the team roster for the Women's World Championship, USA Hockey on Monday named 12 invitees to its three-day high performance goaltending camp which started yesterday at the National Sports Center. Among the invitees is former USA U-18 National Team netminder and incoming 2021-2022 Gopher freshman Skylar Vetter.
We send congratulations to Skylar on the invitation, and look forward to seeing her in the Maroon & Gold this fall!!
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Gopher recruits Conner, Hemp named MN Ms. Hockey finalists
Following the news in the first half of last week that incoming 2021-2022 Gopher Women's Hockey freshman Emma Conner and Peyton Hemp were named as Top 10 semifinalists for the 2021 Minnesota Ms. Hockey award, both advanced as Top 5 finalists announced by Let's Play Hockey this past Friday. Both had also been honored by the Star Tribune as members of its All-Metro First Team last week.
The Ms. Hockey winner will be announced during a broadcast this coming Tuesday, April 6. We send wishes of good luck to both Emma and Peyton.
Northeastern goaltender Frankel named Kazmaier Award winner
Northeaster University senior goaltender Aerin Frankel was named as the recipient of the 2021 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award last Saturday, presented by the USA Hockey Foundation. Frankel led NCAA Division I women's hockey in all the major statistics, completing the season with a 0.81 goals-against average, a .965 save percentage, 9 shutouts, and a .891 winning percentage with a record of 20-2-1. Frankel is the fourth goaltender to win the award in its 24-year history.
Frankel, a native of New York state, remains busy in the early off-season, participating in the USA Hockey goaltending camp and being named as one of the three netminders on Team USA's Women's World Championship roster.
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Follow the Gopher women's hockey team and all Univ. of Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletics at www.gophersports.com. You can also find the Gopher women's hockey team on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GopherWomensHockey and on Twitter at twitter.com/GopherWHockey.