The Two-Minute Minor
An edition of the Penalty Box Post
Wednesday, April 12th
2023 IIHF Women's World Championship – Brampton, Ontario
Canada takes Group A with shootout win over Team USA;
Finland, Sweden advance to Thursday's quarterfinals
In the final preliminary round game for both teams, Canada defeated the United States 4-3 in a shootout to finish atop Group A with 11 standings points, while the Americans came in second in the group with 10 points.
Hannah Bilka put Team USA up 1-0 in the first period, but Sarah Fillier knotted the score for Canada, Marie-Philip Poulin lit the lamp on a 5-on-3 power play, and Laura Stacey hit an empty netter to put the hosts up 3-1 with 2:27 to go. The Americans battled back, as Hilary Knight hit an empty-netter with 39 seconds left and Amanda Kessel did as well with 3.4 seconds on the clock, with Taylor Heise assisting on both, pulling the score even at 3-3. After a scoreless 5-minute overtime which included penalty calls on both teams, the game went to a shootout. Knight and Canada's Brianne Jenner each scored in the first round, but neither team could find the back of the net in the next 7 rounds. Finally in round 9, Knight lost control of the puck on her third attempt, but Jamie-Lee Rattray scored for Canada for the victory. Ann-Renee Desbiens made 26 saves for Canada; Aerin Frankel stopped 33 shots for the U.S.
Prior to that contest, both teams were 3-0 with wins over Czechia, Switzerland, and Japan. Box scores for all contests are available here, and game recaps are avaiable here.
Czechia took 3rd place in Group A behind a 5-2 victory over Switzerland in the preliminary round finale last night. The Swiss finished 4th thanks to a win over the Japanese, putting them fifth.
In Group B, Finland finished in the top spot, going undefeated against Germany, Sweden, Hungary, and France, outscoring their opponents by a combined 26-3. The Germans took second in the group with wins over the Swedes, Hungarians and French. Sweden also advanced by topping Hungary, 6-2, and defeating France yesterday, 8-2. Hungary was knocked out of the tournament after their 2-1 loss to the Germans yesterday, while the French went winless in their four Group B contests, relegating them back to Division I in 2024.
Quarterfinal matchups tomorrow (Thursday, April 13)
(3) Czechia vs. (6) Finland – 10:00 a.m. ET / 9:00 a.m. CT
(2) United States vs. (7) Germany – 1:30 p.m. ET / 12:30 p.m. CT
(1) Canada vs. (8) Sweden – 5:00 p.m. ET / 4:00 p.m. CT
(4) Switzerland vs. (5) Japan – 8:30 p.m. ET / 7:30 p.m. CT
The USA-Germany and Canada-Sweden games will be broadcast live on NHL Network.
Gophers at the World Championship
Now a Gopher alumna, Taylor Heise's hot hand has continued in her second Women's World Championship with the U.S. Women's National Team; she currently sits atop the overall scoring table for players from Group A teams, having posted 8 points on a goal & 7 assists, and is the plus-minus leader from all teams with a +9.
Finland's Nelli Laitinen is tied for second in scoring among all defenders, having tallied 6 points on 2 goals and 4 assists, with a +6 rating.
Abbey Murphy has contributed 5 points for Team USA, with 2 goals & 3 assists, plus a +4 rating.
Including her game-tying goal against Canada, Amanda Kessel has 3 points on 2 goals and an assist, with a +3 rating.
Kelly Pannek has an assist and is a +1 for Team USA.
While she has yet to score, Lee Stecklein has been a critical blueliner for the Americans and has a +4 rating.
Josefin Bouveng has yet to score for Sweden, and incoming Gopher Emma Kreisz did not score for Hungary.
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