The Two-Minute Minor
An edition of the Penalty Box Post
Thursday, September 2nd
IIHF Women's World Championship Final: Canada 3, USA 2, OT
Team USA's streak of five-straight IIHF Women's World Championship gold medals came to an end on Tuesday night when Canada came from behind to win 3-2 in overtime in Calgary.
The Americans took a 2-0 lead into the first intermission with Alex Carpenter scoring both goals. Gopher alumnae Amanda Kessel, Lee Stecklein, and Kelly Pannek recorded assists. But the Canadians battled back in the second stanza as Brianne Jenner converted an early power play and Jamie Lee Rattray knotted the score less than 5 minutes into the frame. Following a scoreless third period, the game went into 3-on-3 overtime, and Marie-Philip Poulin wired a hard shot past U.S. goaltender Nicole Hensley off the post and over the goal line for the victory. The win is the 11th for Team Canada, while Team USA claims its 11th silver medal.
Stecklein honored for World Championship performance – We send huge congratulations to Lee Stecklein, who was named the Best Defender at the World Championship by the IIHF Directorate and a member of the all-tournament team by the media. Lee led Team USA in total scoring with 7 points on 2 goals and 5 assists; she was also tied for third among all players with a team-high +12 plus-minus rating.
Other Gophers at the World Championship – All seven Gopher representatives playing with Team USA got onto the scoresheet at the tournament. As we noted this past Saturday, both Abbey Murphy and Grace Zumwinkle scored their first World Championship goals; Zumwinkle finished with 6 points in the tournament, netting 4 goals plus 2 assists, while Murphy added a second goal to her total. Kelly Pannek recorded 2 goals and 3 assists for 5 points, Amanda Kessel did not find the back of the net herself but dished out 4 helpers, Dani Cameranesi tallied a goal & an assist, and Megan Bozek had two assists.
IIHF proposes World Championship in Olympic years – The IIHF Council made a proposal to its membership this past June to play the top-level Women’s World Championship in Olympic years. However, to avoid having two big tournaments within just two or three months, the World Championship those years would take place in August rather than spring. The proposal will be voted upon by the delegates at the 2021 IIHF Semi-Annual Congress in three weeks; if accepted, the next Women’s World Championship will take place in August 2022, with the Semi-Annual Congress also determining the venue of that event.
WCHA announces 3-year exclusive streaming deal with B1G+
The Western Collegiate Hockey Association annouced yesterday a new partnership with the Big Ten Network and B1G+ as its exclusive streaming platform for three years, beginning with the 2021-2022 season.
As noted in the announcement, games at all eight WCHA campuses will be streamed on the B1G+ platform, while the league is set to host at least two televised matchups on the Big Ten Network.
Three different packages – including a new WCHA Pass – are available to stream the hockey action. Details are available in the press release from the league.
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