The Penalty Box Post
Wednesday, March 22nd
8 Gophers invited to U.S. National Team evaluation camp
World Championship roster to be named following camp's conclusion
Eight (8) representatives of the Minnesota Women's Hockey program were named among 46 players invited to the U.S. Women's National Team evaluation camp, being held next week – March 27 to 31 – at the NSC Super Rink in Blaine. Taylor Heise, Abbey Murphy, Gracie Ostertag, and Grace Zumwinkle from the 2022-2023 Gopher squad will join alumnae Hannah Brandt, Amanda Kessel, Kelly Pannek, and Lee Stecklein at the camp.
On Saturday, April 1, USA Hockey will announce the 23-player Team USA roster for the upcoming 2023 IIHF Women's World Championship, being held April 5 through 16 at the CAA Centre in Brampton, Ontario. The team will practice one more time in Blaine on the 1st before heading to Brampton, and will open their World Championship schedule against Japan at 3 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. CT on the 5th. Both teams will also face Canada, Czechia, and Switzerland in preliminary round play before advancing to the elimination round, which starts April 13th.
Bouveng, Laitinen, Kreisz named to preliminary WWC rosters
Expectations are high that 2022-2023 Gopher freshmen Josefin Bouveng & Nelli Laitinen and incoming 2023-2024 freshman Emma Kreisz will also be Women's World Championship participants, as all three have been named to preliminary rosters for their respective national teams.
Bouveng has been named to the 24-player preliminary roster for Team Sweden, which needs to make one cut before the World Championship begins. The Swedes will play a pre-tournament exhibition game against Switzerland on Sunday, April 2, at McAlpine Ford Arena in Aurora, Ontario.
Laitinen was named to Team Finland's 24-player preliminary roster yesterday. She was also the subject of a feature article by journalist Lucas Aykroyd, posted on the tournament's website earlier this month. The Finns are scheduled to play an exhibition against Team Canada on Saturday, April 1, before the tournament begins.
Kreisz was named to the preliminary Hungarian National Team roster on Monday, though the lineup will need to be trimmed from its current 29 players to 23 over the next two weeks. After traveling to Ontario, Team Hungary will play exhibition games against Japan on March 31 and Germany on April 2.
We send congratulations and wishes of good luck to all our Gopher representatives!!
NCAA Championship: Wisconsin 1, Ohio State 0
The Wisconsin Badgers claimed their 7th national championship in program history, defeating the Ohio State Buckeyes 1-0 in the title game this past Sunday.
Ohio State was shut out for the first time all season as Wisconsin netminder Cami Kronish stopped all 31 shots she faced. Meanwhile, Kirsten Simms scored with 6:32 to go in the first period to put the Badgers ahead, and they held on for the victory. Amanda Thiele made 21 saves for the Buckeyes.
Wisconsin became the lowest-ranked team to win the national title and the first to win four games in the tournament.
All-Tournament Team
F - Jesse Compher, Wisconsin
F - Kirsten Simms, Wisconsin
F - Laila Edwards, Wisconsin
D - Caroline Harvey, Wisconsin
D - Sophie Jaques, Ohio State
G - Cami Kronish, Wisconsin
Most Outstanding Player – Kronish
Jaques named 2023 Patty Kazmaier Award winner
Ohio State graduate player Sophie Jaques claimed the 2023 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, becoming the first Buckeye and just the second defender to earn the honor. She finished the season leading all blue-liners in the NCAA in points (48), goals (24), power-play goals (9) and points per game (1.17).
PPC Board of Director updates
Board election recap / results – We thank those who attended the PPC All-Member Meeting on February 28. The primary item of business was the annual election of officers and directors to he club's board.
President Bill Johnson, vice president Dave Malerich, directors-at-large Matt Floding and J Lindsay, and parent representative Mike Zumwinkle were all re-elected to new two-year terms.
Upon completing her term as a director-at-large, Paula Biever was elected to fill the open position of secretary for the second year of its term (expiring in 2024).
Two open director-at-large positions were filled. We welcome past club officers Bob Milligan and Linda Kenny back to the board. Bob will serve a two-year term and Linda will serve a special one-year term.
This brings the Board of Directors back to a full complement of 12 members; treasurer Todd King and directors-at-large John Conner, David Lord, and Susan "Rennie" McPherson are entering the second year of their respective two-year terms.
April meeting date TBD – The Board of Directors will be meeting in April to begin its off-season work and planning for 2023-2024. However, the meeting date is still to be determined; we will share it as soon as it is set.
Copyright © 2023 Power Play Club, All rights reserved.
Follow the Power Play Club online at www.powerplayclub.org, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/PowerPlayClubMN, or on Twitter at twitter.com/powerplayclub.
Follow the Gopher women's hockey team and all Univ. of Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletics at 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.