Penalty Box Post
Tuesday, September 6th
Power Play Club Announcements
Locker sponsorship registration continues for the 2022-2023 season! Each sponsorship requires a minimum tax-deductible donation of $600.00 (per locker), with all funds going to the Gopher Women’s Hockey Enhancement Fund to support the team. Member benefits include the Power Play Club membership, a photo with your player, and meal with your player and the team on a game day (tentatively set for January 7, 2023).
GWH fans who are interested in sponsoring a player’s or coach's locker should contact Rennie McPherson at susanmcp@drsusanmcp.com. Please provide FIVE names of players and/or coaches you are interested in sponsoring; we try to make sure that each player is sponsored before doubling and tripling up. The current team roster – including the incoming players – can be found at gophersports.com/sports/womens-ice-hockey/roster.
Basic membership registration opens soon! Registration for our basic membership tier will be opening soon. As with the past couple of seasons, a minimum donation of $50.00 per family/address is required for registration. Thanks for your patience as we finalize the details.
Chalk Talks scheduled, starting October 8 – Our popular Chalk Talk events, in which a member of the Gopher coaching staff joins club members to discuss team strategy, review game film, and have a brief question & answer session, are scheduled for the 2022-2023 season. Specificlly, they are planned for October 8 (Bemidji State series), November 5 (Minnesota Duluth), and February 4 (Ohio State), starting 90 minutes prior to each day's game time. The location for each date is still being finalized. These are member-exclusive events.
Board of Directors meeting, September 20 – The next meeting of the Power Play Club Board of Directors, the last before puck drops to start the 2022-2023 season, is scheduled for Tuesday evening, September 20, at 7:00 p.m. This is planned to be in-person at Ridder Arena. As always, board meetings are open to all registered club members; both 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 members are welcomed to attend.
IIHF Women's Worlds: Potomak, Canada claim Gold Medal; Heise named MVP, Best Forward as Team USA takes Silver
Minnesota Women's Hockey alumna Sarah Potomak and the Canada National Women's Hockey Team defeated Team USA, 2-1, on Sunday to win gold at the 2022 IIHF Women's World Championship. The win marks the third major tournament victory for the Canadians over the Americans in roughly 12 months following the 2021 WWC and the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. Potomak finished with 2 goals and 4 assists for 6 points in the tournament, while recording a +9 plus-minus rating.
Meanwhile, Taylor Heise was racing up the individual player scoreboard in her Women's World Championship debut with Team USA. Heise was named the tournament's MVP and Best Forward after tallying 18 points on 7 goals and 11 assists. Her point total was second-most on the all-time single-tournament scoring list and the highest in the past 30 years, trailing only Cindy Curley's 23 points from the 1990 WWC. (Photo by Matt Zambonin / HHOF-IIHF Images)
Amanda Kessel joined Heise on the media-selected All Star Team, recording 17 points on 6 goals & 11 assists and placing third on the single-tournament scoring list. Kessel also led Team USA with a +17 plus-minus rating.
Other Gophers at the Women's World Championship – Here's how our other GWH representatives fared at the tournament...
Hannah Brandt (USA) – 2 goals, 3 assists, 5 points
Nelli Laitinen (Finland) – 1 goal, 4 assists, 5 points
Kelly Pannek (USA) – 3 goals, 1 assist, 4 points
Lee Stecklein (USA) – 1 goal, 3 assists, 4 points
Grace Zumwinkle (USA) – 1 goal, 2 assists, 3 points
Josefin Bouveng (Sweden) – 1 assist, 1 point
Gold Medal Game: Canada 2, USA 1 – In both their preliminary round meeting and the championship game, Canada took a 2-0 lead over Team USA; however, unlike the contest on August 30 in which the Americans came from behind with 5-straight goals to win, they couldn't overcome the deficit the second time. After Brianne Jenner scored both Canadian goals on Sunday, Abby Roque lit the lamp – with Kessel getting an assist – to bring Team USA within one with over a period remaining. However, Canadian goaltender Ann-Renee Desbiens made 12 saves in the final 20 minutes to keep the Americans from finding the equalizer.
We congratulate Potomak on her gold medal, and Brandt, Heise, Kessel, Pannek, Stecklein & Zumwinkle on their siver medals!!
Elsewhere in the tournament...
After finishing atop Group B in the preliminary round, Czechia made history. First, they upset Finland in the quarterfinals, 2-1 in overtime. Though they were crushed by the U.S. 10-1 in the semifinals, they bounced back to win bronze with a 4-2 victory over Switzerland, their first World Championship medal.
Japan was winless in the preliminary round, going 0-4 im Group A and being outscored 31-4, including 9-3 against Finland. A second loss to Switzerland in the quarterfinals sent them to the placement round (consolation bracket). They got their first victory of the tournament in significant come-frome-behind fashion, defeating Sweden 5-4 after trailing 3-0. They followed it up with a 1-0 shootout win in their 5th-Place Game rematch against the Finns, getting 61 saves through OT from goaltender Miyuu Masuhara. What this means for the 2023 Women's World Championship is uncertain; despite the win, Japan was leapfrogged in the world ranking by the bronze-medal winning Czechs, and Finland remains third in the ranking despite their 6th-place result this year.
Sweden was the second-place team in Group B upon completion of the preliminary round, but a 3-0 loss to Canada in the quarterfinals followed by the loss to Japan in the placement round resulted in a 7th-place overall result. Hungary was the third-place team in Group B, the last team to advance to the quarterfinals; they lost to the U.S. in the quarters and fell to Finland in overtime in the placement round to finish 8th.
Germany and tournament host Denmark were 4th & 5th in Group B entering their head-to-head final preliminary round game, and it went down to literally the last second. While the Danes were playing to move up and into the quarterfinals, the Germans needed a regulation-time win to avoid relegation. Denmark led 2-1 with 5 minutes remaining in the third period, but Laura Kulge knotted the score with 4:11 to play. Still needing another goal before the stanza ended, the Germans pulled goaltender Sandra Arbstreiter with 2:12 left, and it paid off as Tanja Eisenschmid beat the horn and lit the lamp with 1 second remaining. The 3-2 German victory relegated Denmark to Division 1 for 2023; they will be replaced by 2022 Division 1 Group A champion France.
Following the cancellation of the 2020 IIHF Women's World Championship and the restriction of not having any fans in attendance at the 2021 tournament, Canada has been named the host country for the 2023 championship. Dates and the host city (or cities) are to be announced.
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