Felt this deserved a thread of it's own. The tournament started today, and it was awesome. The way the Women's WJC works is the top 4 teams are group together, and the lower 4 are grouped, to try and even out the matches. This year the groups are
Group A
Canada
Czech Republic
Russia
USA
Group B
Finland
Japan
Sweden
Switzerland
Pool B play was obviously not as high quality, but they were still pretty decent games. Sweden beat Japan in the first game of the tourney, scoring in the last minute of the third to win 3-2. And despite getting outshot 39-19, the Swiss beat Finland 2-0.
In group A, Russia put up 3 goals early, and coasted to a 3-1 win, but the Czech's battled hard.
In the main event, Canada squared off against the United States. It was a sold out event, and the crowd was rocking all game. Canada chants would start up, then they would quickly get drowned out by USA chants. For Women's U18 hockey, the Canada/US matchup was a lot of fun. The US scored early to go up 1-0 and held that lead into the third where Canada tied it up after a give away. The game remained tied after some furious play in the final 5 minutes. Overtime started out at 3 on 3 after matching minors near the end of the 3rd. There were a few decent chances in overtime, but nothing came of it so they were headed for a shootout. Canada shot first where the US goalie shot the 5 hole. The US scored on their first attempt with a nice shot from about 15 feet out to take the lead. Canada's next shooter tried a couple moves, but lost the puck at the end. So the US needed one more goal to win, sent out Abby Roque and with a nifty move, scored on a backhand to give the US a 2-1 win in the shootout.
Canada and the US are on another leve, and these two teams have met in the gold medal game every time, so expect a rematch. If you haven't gotten tickets for the gold medal game yet, or were questioning on whether or not to get them, I HIGHLY recommend to do so. It will definitely sell out again, if it hasn't already. It was a great event, great hockey, and the atmosphere was fantastic, I can't even imagine how it will be for the gold.
Group A
Canada
Czech Republic
Russia
USA
Group B
Finland
Japan
Sweden
Switzerland
Pool B play was obviously not as high quality, but they were still pretty decent games. Sweden beat Japan in the first game of the tourney, scoring in the last minute of the third to win 3-2. And despite getting outshot 39-19, the Swiss beat Finland 2-0.
In group A, Russia put up 3 goals early, and coasted to a 3-1 win, but the Czech's battled hard.
In the main event, Canada squared off against the United States. It was a sold out event, and the crowd was rocking all game. Canada chants would start up, then they would quickly get drowned out by USA chants. For Women's U18 hockey, the Canada/US matchup was a lot of fun. The US scored early to go up 1-0 and held that lead into the third where Canada tied it up after a give away. The game remained tied after some furious play in the final 5 minutes. Overtime started out at 3 on 3 after matching minors near the end of the 3rd. There were a few decent chances in overtime, but nothing came of it so they were headed for a shootout. Canada shot first where the US goalie shot the 5 hole. The US scored on their first attempt with a nice shot from about 15 feet out to take the lead. Canada's next shooter tried a couple moves, but lost the puck at the end. So the US needed one more goal to win, sent out Abby Roque and with a nifty move, scored on a backhand to give the US a 2-1 win in the shootout.
Canada and the US are on another leve, and these two teams have met in the gold medal game every time, so expect a rematch. If you haven't gotten tickets for the gold medal game yet, or were questioning on whether or not to get them, I HIGHLY recommend to do so. It will definitely sell out again, if it hasn't already. It was a great event, great hockey, and the atmosphere was fantastic, I can't even imagine how it will be for the gold.
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