Knight, Duggan named Patty Kaz Finalists

Thursday Wisconsin forwards Meghan Duggan (pictured) and Hillary Knight were announced as top 10 finalists for the 2011 Patt Kazmaier Award.

According to the release, "This year marks the 14th annual presentation of the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, given annually to the top player in NCAA Division I women’s ice hockey. Selection criteria includes outstanding individual and team skills, sportsmanship, performance in the clutch, personal character, competitiveness and a love of hockey. Consideration is also given to academic achievement and civic involvement."

Duggan, a senior forward was also honored on Thursday by the WCHA as it's Player of the Year. Duggan, a member of last years USA Olympic team which picked up a silver medal in Vancouver led the WCHA in scoring with 61 points in 28 games for a 2.18 point per game clip. Duggan won the league scoring race by 10 points over teammate and line mate, Sophomore Brianna Decker. Duggan's 79 total points this season are tied for first nationally.

Knight, a junior forward is putting goals on the board at an insane rate this season. Her 46 goals this season are 11 more than the next highest goal scorer (Duggan). Knight's 46 goals this season are also more than 4 Division-1 women's teams scored the entire season. Knight was also honored by the WCHA on Thursday being announced as a first team All-WCHA forward. This is the second time Knight has been a finalist for the Patty Kaz.

According to UWBadgers.com, 10 UW women's players have been finalists for the award: Sara Bauer (2006, 2007), Duggan (2011), Molly Engstrom (2005), Meghan Hunter (2001), Knight (2009, 2011), Erika Lawler (2009), Carla MacLeod (2005), Meaghan Mikkelson (2007), Bobbi-Jo Slusar (2006) and Jessie Vetter (2009).

Sara Bauer won the award in 2006 and Jessie Vetter won the award in 2009.

Here are the Badges honored by the WCHA on Thursday at the League Awards:

Hilary Knight-First team forward
Meghan Duggan-First team forward
Brianna Decker-First team forward
Brittany Haverstock-Third team defenseman
Brittany Ammerman-All Rookie team forward
Alex Rigsby-All Rookie team goalie
Mark Johnson-Coach of the year

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09/10 Women's Previews: #4 Brittany Haverstock

Vitals:

Position: Defender
Year in School: Sophomore
Shoot Left
Height: 5-6
Hometown: Hammons Plains, Nova Scotia
Major: Undecided
Previous Team: Stoney Creek Junior Sabres in 07/08

08/09 Stats: 39 games, 2-15-17, +29, 16 PIM
07/08 Stats: 54 games, 7-20-27, +29

09/10 Role: 1st Pairing, PP, PK

08/09 Recap: The Pride of Nova Scotia was solid on the blue line for the Badgers as a freshman, earning her a spot on the WCHA All Rookie team. She seemed to fit in right away and find her spot on the team. In addition to helping the Badgers win another National Championship, Brittany had two different stints on Canada’s U22 team.

09/10 Thoughts: W/ Hilary Knight gone to the Olympic team, Brittany will fill in as my favorite Badger on the Women’s team this year. I would expect her to expand her role and become a leader on the blue line. I’m still learning about the differences between the blue line in the Men’s and Women’s game (they don’t appear to contribute offensively to the degree the Men dmen do), so it “appears” they impact isn’t as great. Anyway, w/ Alycia Matthews gone to graduation, Brittany will need to step up to lead along w/ Malee Windmeier. Brittany is strong in all areas of her game, and will only get better. Nova Scotia should certainly be proud of this Badger.

Prediction: 34 games, 3-20-23
*All predictions for regular season only

Photo from uwbadgers.com

Badgers win WCHA Honors

WCHA awards were announced today, and 7 Badger players received honors, as did head coach Mark Johnson. Most notably, Hilary Knight was named WCHA Player of the Year! Hilary, she's the bomb. (You'll notice that Jessie Vetter did not win goaltender of the year; that honor went to freshman Alyssa Grogan from minnesota.)

Hilary Knight - Player of the Year, 1st-Team All-WCHA
Jessie Vetter - 1st-Team All-WCHA
Erika Lawler - 2nd-Team All-WCHA
Meghan Duggan - 3rd-Team All-WCHA
Alycia Matthews - 3rd-Team All-WCHA
Brooke Ammerman - 3rd-Team All-WCHA, All-Rookie Team
Brittany Haverstock - All-Rookie Team
Mark Johnson - WCHA Co-Coach of the Year (with minnesota's Brad Frost)

Congratulations, Badgers!

9 Badgers also were named to the WCHA All-Academic team: Rachel Bible, Mallory Deluce, Meghan Duggan, Maria Evans, Kayla Hagen, Angie Keseley, Erika Lawler, Alycia Matthews, and Jessie Vetter.

Nice work, ladies!

Here are the uwbadgers.com and wcha.com releases and a blurb in the WSJ. Also, one of the Fitchburg, MA papers had a nice feature on Erika Lawler.

Ya know, I'm not sure if I posted this yet, so I'm going to go ahead and post it here -- current Badger Jessie Vetter and past Badger players Molly Engstrom and Sara Bauer were named Top-10 players from the 1st 10 years of the Women's WCHA. Here are the uwbadgers.com and wcha.com releases.

Just a reminder that Vetter, Knight, and Lawler are all top-1o finalists for the Patty Kaz. The top-3 finalists will be named on March 10.

Silver for Deluce, Haverstock

Mallory Deluce, Brittany Haverstock, and Team Canada will be taking home silver medals from the MLP Cup in Ravensburg, Germany. Congratulations Mallory and Brittany!

Canada was defeated by Sweden 2-1 yesterday in the championship game. Canada had previously defeated Germany 3-0, Russia 11-0, and Finland 3-0. They had also previously defeated Switzerland 7-0 and 8-1 in exhibition play prior to the tournament.

Hilary Knight 5 Goal Free for All

The Badger Women started things off on the right foot this weekend. On friday the Badgers shutout the Bobcats of Quinnipiac 10-0. Jesse Vetter was in net for her 26th career shutout. Maria Evans, Carolyne Prevost and Brittany Haverstock all notched their first points as Badgers; Evans and Prevost notching their first goals.

On saturday, Quinnipiac brought a better effort, but they were again no match for the Badgers who won 7-3. Alannah McCready got the start in the net for the Badgers. Hilary Knight provided the fans in attendance w/ Culvers ice cream all by herself w/ an impressive 5 goal preformance. She's the bomb. A lot of that credit should go to Erika Lawler as well, she made some great passes to give Knight some easy goals. Freshman Brooke Ammerman notched her first goal as a Badger to get things rolling in the 1st period.

Overall the line of Erika Lawler-Angie Keseley-Hilary Knight was outstanding. Lawler finished the weekend w/ 7 assists, Knight w/ 7 goals and 2 assists, Keseley w/ 2 assists. If that wasn't enough trouble for Quinnipiac, the 2nd line of Malory Deluce-Meghan Duggan-Carolyne Prevost were just as good. If only the Men's team could generate offense like this...

Sure its just Quinnipiac, but the Badger Women started strong. Next weekend, they face Sryacuse who is in its first year as a program. Wisconsin will also be celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Women's program. I strongly encourage fans to attend, if you are coming for the football game, stop by for a few periods before getting "ready" for the night cap against Ohio State at Camp Randall.

Meet the Freshmen: #4 Brittany Haverstock

Gandalf has been doing a bang-up job posting profiles of each member of the women's team, but I thought I'd add some additional information on the incoming freshmen.

First up: #4 Brittany Haverstock, D
Gandalf's profile
Uwbadgers.com profile
Team Canada profile (scroll to page 18)

(Photos from uwbadgers.com and pwhl.ca.)

Brittany has quite a bit of national and international experience, and I'll see what I can do to summarize it here.

Playing with Team Nova Scotia, she won gold medals at the 2003, 2004, and 2005 Atlantic Cup Championships and a bronze medal at the 2006 Atlantic Cup Championship. Also with Team Nova Scotia, she participated in the 2005 Esso Women's Championships and 2007 Canada Winter Games.

Playing with Team Atlantic, she won a bronze medal at the Nov 2005 National Women's U18 Championships - at the age of 14, she was the youngest player in the tourney. Also with Team Atlantic, she participated in the Jan 2005 NWU18 Championships and the 2007 NWU18 Championships.

Playing with Team Canada U18, she won a silver medal in the 2008 IIHF World Women's Championships in January -- in 5 games, she had 2 assists and finished +10. She was also a member of the 2007 U18 team that swept Team USA in the U18 series last summer -- she scored a PP goal in Game 3. By the way, after playing in that tourney, she was featured in the Canadian Sports Center-Atlantic Newsleter.

As Gandalf mentioned, this summer Brittany moved up to Canada's U22 team and participated in the U22 series v. Team USA. Click here and scroll to page 18 to see her profile in Team Canada's media guide. Team Canada won the series 2-1, but Brittany was held of the scoresheet.



Brittany played last season with the Stoney Creek Sabres of the Provincial Women's Hockey League (PWHL). With the Sabres, she won gold medals at the PWHL Championships and the Ontario Women's Hockey Association (OWHA) Provincials.

I'm a bit confused, because her profile at uwbadgers.com says the following: "Played for the Stoney Creek Junior Sabres of the Provincial Women’s Hockey League ... through 54 games tallied seven goals and 20 assists for 27 points for the Sabres ... two game-winning goals ... had a plus/minus of +29 ..." -- yet the PWHL stats page indicates she had 4 goals and 14 assists for 18 points in 32 games. She finished second among Sabre defensmen in scoring.

It appears that Brittany has been a winner at every level -- prior to joining the Sabres, she played 2 years at the Warner Academy, a hockey academy in Warner, Alberta, where she helped the team win 2 consecutive league titles.



Brittany was named the 2008 IKON Female Team Athlete of the Year presented by Sport Nova Scotia.

Badgers Coach Mark Johnson says the following about Brittany:

“Brittany is an offensive defenseman who is a strong attacking threat from the blue line. She is a good skater with good skills, discipline and focus. She’s the type of defenseman who likes to join the rush.”

About hockey, Brittany says:

"You meet your closest friends through sport and no matter what you're doing with it you always have a great time. The opportunities are endless for hockey, you can get your education paid for and you can have the opportunity to represent your country on numerous occasions."

Women's Player Previews: #4 Brittany Haverstock

Brittany is in Canadian Red fighting for the puck against future teammate Brooke Ammerman.

Vitals:

Position: Defense
Year in School: Freshman
Shoots Left
Height: 5-6
Hometown: Hammons Plains, Nova Scotia
Previous Team: Stoney Creek Junior Sabres
Major: Undeclared

07/08 Stats: 54 games, 7-20-27, +29

Thoughts: Despite her young age, Brittany already has experience on Canada's U22 team this summer. I remember nubeetle telling me she was one, if not the, top recruit coming from Canada to play NCAA Hockey. Regardless, she is from Nova Scotia, and while I haven't been there yet in my travels it sounds like a majestic place, and Wisconsin is glad to welcome one of their citizens for a few years.

AP Photo from John McIntosh from daylife.com

U22 Game 3: CAN 4 - USA 3 (OT)

Today was the final game of the U22 Series between the US and Canada in Pierrefonds, Québec. As you know, Team USA included Badgers Erika Lawler, Meghan Duggan, and Hilary Knight, and Team Canada included Badger Brittany Haverstock.

Team USA took an early 3-0 lead, but Canada came back to win in 4-3 in overtime. Our Badgers were held off of the scoresheet. (Edit: my apologies for my initial lack of reading comprehension -- apparently I got confused b/c I was looking at a bunch of different game results at the same time, and somehow I thought Canada had the early lead.)

In the overall series, Meghan Duggan had 1 goal and 1 assist, and Erika Lawler had 2 assists.

Final Results
Game 1: USA 4 - CAN 3 (SO) : usahockey recap, hockeycanada recap
Game 2: USA 2 - CAN 7 : usahockey recap, hockeycanada recap
Game 3: USA 3 - CAN 4 (OT) : usahockey recap, hockeycanada recap


The U18 series also came to an end today. Under the leadership of Mark Johnson, Team USA won the series 2-1.

Final Results:
Game 1: USA 4 - CAN 1 : usahockey recap, hockeycanda recap
Game 2: USA 3 - CAN 2 : usahockey recap, hockeycanada recap
Game 3: USA 2 - CAN 3 (OT) : usahockey recap, hockeycanada recap

U22 Game 2: CAN 7 - USA 2

Yikes.

Hockeycanada recap
Usahockey recap

On the bright side, Meghan Duggan had a PP goal in the 2nd for the US, and Erika Lawler had an assist on Duggan's goal.

Hilary Knight (USA) and Brittany Haverstock (CAN) were left off the scoresheet.

The final game of the series is tomorrow at 8:30 AM CDT


In the better news department . . . the US U18 team defeated Canada 3-2 this evening. As mentioned previously, no Badgers on the roster, but Mark Johnson is the head coach.

Hockeycanada recap
Usahockey recap

U22 Game 1: US 4 - CAN 3 (SO)

Erika Lawler and Meghan Duggan each had an assist as Team USA defeated Team Canada 4-3 in a shootout tonight. Scoring 3 PP goals and outshooting Canada 23-7 in the first period, Team USA ended the 1st period with a 3-0 lead. Canada scored 2 goals in the 2nd and another in the 3rd to tie things up before Team USA prevailed in the shootout.

Hockeycanada recap
Usahockey recap
TCT (just a short mention, but it's nice to see local media coverage)


Also, in the U18 game earlier today, Team USA (coached by Mark Johnson) defeated Canada 4-1.

HockeyCanada recap
Usahockey recap

US-CAN U22/U18 series begin today

(Team USA U22 team, photo from usahockey.com, Team Canada U22 team, photo from hockeycanada.com)

The U22 and U18 series begin today, featuring a number of Badgers.

U22
Team Canada and Team USA will faceoff tonight at 6 pm CDT, Friday at 6 pm CDT, and Saturday at 8:30 am CDT in Pierrefonds, Québec.

The US U22 roster was previously released and includes Meghan Duggan, Hilary Knight, and Erika Lawler. The US U22 team, of course, participated in the National Festival (departing on the 18th for Pierrefonds), and you can find Festival game notes and player stats here.

Team Canada just recently released its U22 roster. Incoming freshman Brittany Haverstock is the only Badger on the team, with Mallory Deluce, Jasmine Giles, and Carolyne Prévost not making the cut. Scroll to page 18 for Brittany's Team Canada profile.

Below is the practice and game schedules for the U22 series.

Monday, August 18
12:45 p.m. Canada – practice

Tuesday, August 19
10:00 a.m. Canada – practice
12:00 p.m. USA – practice

Wednesday, August 20
9:00 a.m. Canada – practice
10:00 a.m. USA – practice
7:00 p.m. Canada U22 vs. USA U22

Thursday, August 21
12:00 p.m. USA – practice
2:00 p.m. Canada – practice

Friday, August 22
9:00 a.m. USA – practice
10:00 a.m. Canada – practice
7:00 p.m. Canada U22 vs. USA U22

Saturday, August 23
9:30 a.m. Canada U22 vs. USA U22

U18
Team Canada and Team USA will faceoff tonight at 6 pm CDT, Friday at 6 pm CDT, and Saturday at 9 am CDT in Lake Placid, NY.

No Badgers on the U18 team for either country, but Mark Johnson is the head coach of the US U18 team.

One player of interest on Team Canada is defenseman Kayleigh Fratkin, a possible UW recruit.


LINKS
Hockeycanada U22 home page, game results
Usahockey U22 event home page
Hockeycanada U18 home page, game results
Usahockey U18 event home page, game results

4 Badgers make Canada's U-22 selection camp

Team USA's U-22 team is set (including Erika Lawler, Hilary Knight, and Meghan Duggan, just in case you forgot), but Canada is still selecting their team. 5 Badgers attended Canada's strength and conditioning/skating camp that took place in May, and 4 of them will now attend the U-22 Selection Camp that runs Aug 12-19. Defenseman Brittany Haverstock and fowards Mallory Deluce, Jasmine Giles, and Carolyne Prévost have made the 40-player selection camp roster.

Hockeycanada.ca has the announcement, camp roster, and camp schedule.

The US and Canadian U-22 teams will play a 3-game series Aug 20-23.

Several Badgers earn Canadian U-22 camp spots

I recently posted regarding Team USA's U-22 summer camp, but I neglected to post about Team Canada's U-22 camp when it was announced on May 9. Several current and future Badgers will be among the 51 players participating in the strength and conditioning/skating camp that will take place May 28-31.

Defencemen (15)
Brittany Haverstock, 1990, Hammonds Plains, NS/ Stoney Creek, PWHL
Alycia Matthews, 1987, Robson, BC/ University of Wisconsin (WCHA)

Forwards (28)
Mallory Deluce, 1989, London, ON/ University of Wisconsin (WCHA)
Jasmine Giles, 1988, Ottawa, ON/ University of Wisconsin (WCHA)
Carolyne Prevost, 1990, London (PWHL)