Knight leads the United States to GOLD

No matter who scored in Monday afternoon's OT thriller at the IIHF Women's World Championship, multiple Badgers were coming home with gold medals. It just so happened that USA forward Hilary Knight, who still has one season of eligibility remaining at Wisconsin found the back of the net.

The United States squad who captured the gold medal featured five current or former Badgers. Knight and Brianna Decker (who has two seasons of eligibility remaining) are the current Badgers. Recent grad and Patty Kazmaier Award winner Meghan Duggan, defenseman Molly Engstrom, and goaltender Jessie Vetter all starred in the past for the Badgers.

Knight was the most impressive player in the tournament, and led all scorers with 14 points in 5 games (5 goals, 9 assists). She also tied for the tournament lead in plus/minus at a plus 11. For her efforts, Knight was named to the all tournament team by a media panel.

Decker finished the tournament second in scoring with 11 points (4 goals, 7 assists) and Meghan Duggan ended up fifth with 7 points (4 goals, 3 assists). Engstrom recorded two points from the blue line and was a +9. Jessie Vetter continued her brilliance in goal with a .952 save percentage and 1.28 GAA and saved her best in the gold medal game when she stopped 51 of 53 shots.

Two other former Badgers aren't going home empty handed. Team Canada defensemen Meghan Mikkelson and Bobbi Jo Slusar, both former University of Wisconsin stars played big roles for Team Canada. Slusar finished the tournament with a couple of points and was a +4 and Mikkelson's 3 goals and +10 rating in the tournament earned her the honor of being named the tournament's best defenseman.

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Monday Morning Link Roundup

-Many of you are already familiar with former Badger and current Chicago Blackhawks forward Jake Dowell's family history. His father John, and brother Lucas both suffer from Huntington’s disease, which results from genetically programmed degeneration of brain cells in certain areas of the brain. Eventually walking, and intellectual ability decline until it eventually costs you your life.

Ken Campbell from The Hockey News sat down with Jake and they did a phenomenal two part interview. Part 1 can be found here. Part 2 can be found here.

Dowell talks about how the disease has affected his father and their relationship. He also talks about the prospects being tested for the disease himself where he has a 50/50 chance. Make sure you check it out.

-Future Badgers Jake McCabe and Nic Kerdiles from the United States U18 team who are playing in the World Championships won an intense 4-3 game over Russia on Sunday afternoon. The United States scored the game winner with only :23 seconds remaining to snatch the victory. Chris Peters from the United States of Hockey who is over covering the tournament in Germany has a full recap.

-Speaking of internationally play, the United States is participating in the Women's World Championships. Former Badgers Jessie Vetter, Meghan Duggan, and Molly Engstrom are all on this years squad along with current Badgers Hilary Knight and Brianna Decker. USA won game 1 5-0 over Slovakia. The Badgers represented well Sunday, Knight had a goal and an assist, Duggan had a goal, Engstrom had an assist, and Decker had 2 goals and 1 assist and was named the player of the game.

-Famed goalie coach David Marcoux said that North Dakota goalie Aaron Dell has been offered a two year contract by the Montreal Canadiens. UND is also expected to lose Brett Hextall and possibly Ben Blood and Jason Gregoire. If all four go, UND could be in trouble next season. They better hope Grimaldi is the real deal. UPDATE: Dell has tweeted that he plans to return to UND next season.

-Andy Baggot has a fantastic article up with former Wisconsin goalie Kirk Daubenspeck who was critically injured in a car crash. Daubenspeck sounds like he's doing phenomenal and is appreciative of the outpouring of support. Dauber even mentioned that he could possibly be driving in the next month. That's amazing.

-Baggot also spoke with UW centerman Craig Smith who was recently tabbed by USA hockey for the Mens World Championships, a rare honor for a college player. The biggest info in the article is Smith reiterating plans to return to Wisconsin for his junior season. As a Sophomore Smith was second on the Badgers in points and led the team in goals.

-Wisconsin assistant Gary Shuchuk joined twitter has been tweeting recruiting updates. In the past few weeks he's been in Connecticut for the Tier 1 USA Hockey U18 and U16 Nationals, and recently across the Northern border recruiting in British Columbia.

-The NHL Playoff action has been excellent so far. Many former Badgers have been putting points on the board so far. Monday night you can catch former Badgers Kyle Turris of Phoenix taking on Brian Rafalski and Detroit at 9:30 on Versus. The Coyotes are down 2-0 in the series. Turris has a goal in the series and Rafalski has 2.

-The Wisconsin high school seniors finished 1-2 at the Minnesota NIT over the weekend which was a bit of a disappointment after winning it last season. Ryan Dau (Hudson) led TW in scoring and tied for the tournament lead with 6 points in 3 games. He's visited Princeton and Holy Cross. Wisconsin recruit Brad Navin had 5 points (4 goals). UW forward Jefferson Dahl's brother Alex also had 5 points for Team Wisconsin. Potential UW recruit Eddie Wittchow from Burnsville who played for the Minnesota senior all-stars did not record a point on the weekend.

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US Women win World Championships

Photo from uwbadgers.com

Better late than never w/ this news, but the Mark Johnson coached United States Women's team have successfully defended their World Championship crown beating Canada 4-1 for the championship. W/ their continued success in the tourney, Team USA takes over the World's #1 ranking as well.

Meghan Duggan had a goal in the victory and Jessie Vetter made 39 saves to backstop another successful venture for Team USA.

Congrats to Mark Johnson and all the former and current Badgers (pictured) for another job well done and for representing the Red, White & Blue proudly!

60 might have more on this when she returns from hypernation. Personally, I'm looking forward to watching Women's hockey during the Olympics next Winter. I'm also pretty excited for the Team USA/Wisconsin warm up game in January 2010 at the Kohl Center. As much as I love Spring and Summer, I won't be unhappy when Hockey Season starts up again for the Badger Men and Women.

IIHF WW: CAN 2 - USA 1

In a meaningless game to wrap up the qualifying round (both teams were already assured a spot in the Gold Medal game prior to this game), Canada defeated USA yesterday in a matchup that somewhat previews the Gold Medal game. I say "somewhat" because the US didn't go with Vetter in goal yesterday, and I imagine that she'll play on Sunday.

Box: IIHF
Recaps: usahockey, hockeycanada
Photos: usahockey/IIHF HHOF

No goals by any Badgers, but it sounds like blog favorite Megan Duggan had a really nice scoring opportunity in the 1st period:

In a tightly contested first period, the score remained 0-0 after 20 minutes. Team USA's best opportunity came just after the halfway point when it appeared that Meghan Duggan (Danvers, Mass.) scored as she went down in front of the Canadian net, but Charline Labonte got her glove on the puck just before it crossed the goal line.

Here's what USA head coach Mark Johnson had to say about the game:

"We took a few too many penalties," said Team USA Head Coach Mark Johnson, who is also the head women's ice hockey coach at the University of Wisconsin. "When we did have opportunities on the power play, we didn't capitalize. Overall, it was a friendly match and we were able to get our feet wet and see what we are up against. Now we will make some adjustments and play again for a world championship on Sunday."

USA
F Hilary Knight 0-0-0, 3 SOG, -1
F Erika Lawler 0-0-0, 0 SOG, +1
F Meghan Duggan 0-0-0, 3 SOG, E
D Kerri Weiland 0-0-0, 0 SOG, E
D Molly Engstrom 0-0-0, 1 SOG, E
G Jessie Vetter DNP (Molly Schaus got the start)

CAN
F Meaghan Mikkelson 0-0-0, 0 SOG, -1
D Carla MacLeod 0-0-0, 6 SOG, E


UP NEXT: The Medal Games
Bronze: FIN v. SWE -- Sunday 4/12 @ 8 AM
Gold: USA v. CAN -- Sunday 4/12 @ 12 PM

IIHF WW 2009 by the numbers: The facts and figures behind Sunday's medal games

IIHF WW: USA 7 - FIN 0

Another big win for USA, another hat-trick for The Bomb, another shutout for Jessie Vetter.

Box: IIHF
Recaps: IIHF, usahockey
Photos: usahockey/IIHF

F Hilary Knight 3-0-3, 7 SOG, +2
F Erika Lawler 0-2-2, 2 SOG, +2
F Meghan Duggan 0-0-0, 2 SOG, +1
D Kerri Weiland 0-0-0, 0 SOG, +2
D Molly Engstrom 0-0-0, 2 SOG, +1
G Jessie Vetter 16 SVS

"It was a great victory," said Team USA Head Coach Mark Johnson, who is also the head women's ice hockey coach at the University of Wisconsin. "I'm excited for the team and the opportunity to play Canada tomorrow and again on Sunday for a world championship. We talked about what we wanted to do and the players went out and executed."

The US will play Canada for the Gold on Sunday, but first they'll get to play Canada tonight in the final game of the qualifying round (Game Notes).

IIHF WW: CAN 8 - FIN 0

Yep, another big Canada victory yesterday . . .

Box: IIHF
Recap: IIHF, hockeycanada

D Carla MacLeod: 0-1-1, 0 SOG, +2
F Meaghan Mikkelson: 0-0-1, 1 SOG, E

Today, USA will get their chance at FIN (game notes), and tomorrow USA and CAN will meet in the final game of this round (and in what will likely be a preview of Sunday's gold medal game).

IIHF WW: Badgers in the preliminary round

Since both USA and CAN had yesterday off and have today off as well, I thought this morning might be a good time to take a brief look back at the Badgers' performances in the preliminary rounds. Especially since WHKY Blogger has already done the work for me. (Thanks, Blogger!)

After the first round, the current and former Badgers performing well here at Worlds!

Carla MacLeod is leading all scorers with 7pts
Hilary Knight has 3 goals and an assist for the USA
Meaghan Mikkelson has 2 assists for Canada
Meghan Duggan has a goal for the USA
Molly Engstrom has an assist for the USA
Kerry Weiland has had a couple of nice shots and also took a necessary penalty.

The Greatest One has 2 assists, a Penalty for Hooking and 6 SOG while being played by a forward and a defender nearly every time she has a touch. The other teams have been playing her as if her line is unable to score if she can't handle the puck. They seem to be forgetting her linemates include Chu and Darwitz for the most part, not to mention the defenders and the other players she is paired with.

Just to refresh you memories, USA defeated JPN 8-0 and RUS 8-0 in the preliminary round, and CAN defeated CHN 13-1 and SWE 7-0.

Jessie Vetter has yet to play in goal for USA. I'd imagine we'll see her in the next round.

Here's the schedule for the qualifying round:
Wed 4/8 @ 12 PM CT: CAN v. FIN
Thurs 4/9 @ 12 PM CT: USA v. FIN
Fri 4/10 @ 12 PM CT: USA v. CAN

The top 2 teams will play for the gold and the 3rd team will play for the bronze on Sunday.

Here are the event homepages from BTD, IIHF, usahockey, and hockeycanada.

CAN 7 - SWE 0, Canada moves on to qualifying round

CAN 7 - SWE 0
Carla MacLeod had her hand in 5 of Canada's 7 goals (1 goal, 4 assists) and Meaghan Mikkelson added an assist on MacLeod's goal. Canada outshot Sweden 39-18.

Box: IIHF
Recaps: IIHF, hockeycanada

F Meaghan Mikkelson 0-1-1, 1 SOG, +1
D Carla MacLeod 1-4-5, 2 SOG, +5

Next up: The qualifying round
Wed 4/8 @ 12 PM -v. Finland
Fri 4/10 @ 12 PM -- v. USA

The top 2 teams in this group (USA, CAN, and FIN) at the end of the qualifying round will play for the gold medal on Sunday. The 3rd team will play the top team in the next tier (RUS, SWE, KAZ) for the bronze.

Go BADGERS!

USA 8 - RUS 0, US moves on to qualifying round

USA 8 - RUS 0
The US outshot Russia 49-13. Duggan scored USA's 1st goal, and Knight and Lawler each got 1 assist. Former Duluth Foreign Legion player Iya Gavrilova was (obviously) held off the score sheet.

Game Notes: usahockey
Box: IIHF
Recaps: IIHF, usahockey

F Hilary Knight 0-1-1, 3 SOG, +2
F Erika Lawler 0-1-1, 3 SOG, +1
F Meghan Duggan 1-0-1, 4 SOG, +1
D Kerri Weiland 0-0-0, 0 SOG, E
D Molly Engstrom 0-0-0, 0 SOG, +4
G Jessie Vetter DNP (Molly Schaus got the start)

"We ran into some adversities, which is good for the team," said Team USA Head Coach Mark Johnson, who is also the head women's ice hockey coach at the University of Wisconsin. "We passed the test, which helps us in our preparation for our next game on Thursday."

Next up: The qualifying round
Thurs 4/9 @ 12 PM -v. Finland
Fri 4/10 @ 12 PM -- v. Canada

USA 8 - JPN 0 / CAN 13 - CHN 1

Both USA and CAN destroyed their opponents yesterday in their opening games of the IIHF World Women's Championship. Both games were pretty lopsided, with the opponents providing little offensive threat -- it sounds like, for the most part, the forwards for USA/CAN were able to break up the play at the blueline, limiting the ability of JPN/CHN to gain the zone.


USA 8 - JPN 0
USA outshot JPN 74-8, The Bomb had a hat trick, and Lawler and Engstrom each chipped in an assist.

Game Notes: usahockey
Box: IIHF, BTD
Recaps: IIHF, usahockey
Live Blog: BTD

F Hilary Knight 3-0-3, 10 SOG, +1
F Erika Lawler 0-1-1, 3 SOG, +2
F Meghan Duggan 0-0-0, 2 SOG, E
D Kerri Weiland 0-0-0, 3 SOG, +1
D Molly Engstrom 0-1-1, 7 SOG, +3
G Jessie Vetter DNP (Megan Van Beusekom got the start)

"It was a good way to start things off," said Team USA Head Coach Mark Johnson, who is also the head women's ice hockey coach at the University of Wisconsin. "From an offensive standpoint, we generated a lot of scoring opportunities. Everybody got their feet wet and now we can continue to move forward in the tournament."

By the way, Team USA is going with 11 F and 7 D for this tourney, which is why you might see Kerri Weiland listed on one of the forward lines when the lines are given. Don't be confused, she's still playing D.


CAN 13 - CHN 1
CAN outshot CHN 75-5. MacLeod had a goal and an assist, and Mikkelson had an assist.

Box: IIHF, BTD
Recaps: IIHF, hockeycanada
Live Blog: BTD

F Meaghan Mikkelson 0-1-1, 0 SOG, +2
D Carla MacLeod 1-1-2, 3 SOG, +3

Mikkelson is listed as a defensemen on the IIHF roster, but hockeycanada has her listed as a forward, and the game recap specifically mentions that she has moved up to F.

By the way, if you're so inclined, you can send Meaghan or Carla an email, as hockeycanada has an "email your favourite player" feature.


NEXT UP
USA - RUS: Monday 4 AM CT -- Game Notes
CAN - SWE: Monday 7:30 AM CT
(Both teams were off today.)

I'd imagine that BTD will be live-blogging both games. (Thanks, BTD!)

2009 IIHF WW begins today

The 2009 IIHF World Women's Championship begins today with Team Canada taking on China (7 AM CT) and Team USA taking on Japan (9 AM CT). You can find the schedule and links to stats here. Also, here are usahockey's and hockeycanada's homepages for the event. It shouldn't come as a surprise to you that Canada and the US are considered favorites to win the championship.

In pre-tournament exhibition play, Team USA defeated Sweden 9-0. Hilary Knight scored 2 goals, Meghan Duggan scored 1 goal, Erika Lawler had 3 assists, and Jessie Vetter combined with Molly Schaus for the shutout. Also representing Team USA are Molly Engstrom and Kerry Weiland, and of course Mark Johnson is the head coach.

Also in pre-tournament exhibition play, Team Canada defeated EHC Red Devil (boys AAA midget) 3-1, Espoo Blues (boys AAA midget) 8-0, and Finland 3-0. Carla MacLeod had an assist v. the Blues, and Meghan Mikkelson had a goal v. the Blues and an assist v. Finland. Just a reminder that Mikkelson is playing forward rather than D with Canada. (If memory serves, she was previously a forward as well but transitioned to D with the Badgers.)

EDITED TO ADD: Beyond the Dashers also has a nice homepage for the event.

Friday Evening Odds & Ends

• Brian Fahey has signed with the New York Rangers.



• The Badger Women have reportedly been recruiting B.C. player Kayleigh Fratkin. DPlaya indicates she's a 2010-2011 goaltending recruit, but the article indicates that she's a defenseman.



• The June/July issue of USA Hockey Magazine has a nice article about the US team that won the IIHF World Women's Championships earlier this year in Harbin, China. That team included Badgers Meghan Duggan, Hilary Knight, Erika Lawler, Molly Engstrom, Kerry Weiland, and Jessie Vetter.



• The June/July issue of USA Hockey Magazine also has a nice feature on Jake Gardiner, as well as a story on Jordy Murray at the national championships (scroll down a little bit).

Friday Evening Odds & Ends

• Uwbadgers.com has a nice article about Matthew Ford. Matt will be graduating tomorrow with a degree in consumer science. He indicates he will be playing hockey next year, but he doesn't indicate where. I haven't heard anything lately on where Matt might be playing next year -- the Hawks own his rights and have until Aug 15 to sign him, after which he would become a free agent. I'm hoping that the Hawks sign him and that I'll be able to watch him in Rockford. (Gandalf, next year I'm getting your picture with the big giant red pig.)

• On Monday, the uwbadgers.com Badgers blog posted their second installment of "Around the World of Badger Hockey". (I missed it at first, because I saw the title and erroneously thought it was the first installment and not a new post.) It talks about Badgers playing for the Stanley Cup and Badgers playing in the IIHF World Championships.

• The US Women's National Team, which recently won the IIHF World Women's Championship, has been named the USOC Team of the Month for April.

• I know she wasn't a Badger, but she should've been one, and she would've been one if the Badgers had a D-I team when she was in college. Besides, doesn't everyone in Wisconsin love the Granato family? Anyway, Cammi Granato was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame yesterday. Congratulations, Cammi!

• While on the usahockey website, I stumbled upon this blog from Brooke Ammerman and Kendall Coyne from the U18 Championships in January. Team USA, of course, won the Gold!

Erika Lawler, Unsung Hero

(Photos from usahockey.com courtesy of Phillip MacCallum)

The folks at Beyond the Dashers made the trip to China last month for the IIHF World Women's Championships. And on their blog they gave out BTD All-Tourney Honors. They named Erika Lawler as the Unsung Hero for her excellent vision, solid defense, and superior puck handling. I would have to think that Lawler's competitive drive (does she ever stop working during a game?) had something to do with this, too. Yes, I know BTD was started by Badger Fans, but they seem to be pretty objective, so I think it's pretty cool they gave this award to Erika.

By the way, I've added Beyond the Dashers to our list of WCHA/NCAA links. BTD covers women's college hockey news, polls and rankings, and D-I and D-III commitments.

Belated Congrats to our Gold & Silver Medal Badgers

(Photo from usahockey.com courtesy of Phillip MacCallum)

I should have done this a long time ago, but better late than never, right? On April 12, Team USA defeated Team Canada 4-3 to win the 2008 IIHF World Women's Championship. Badgers Meghan Duggan, Hilary Knight, Erika Lawler, Jessie Vetter, Molly Engstrom, and Kerry Weiland took home the Gold. Badgers Meaghan Mikkelson and Carla MacLeod took home the Silver. Congratulations, ladies!

Here are the Badgers' stats from the championship game:


Duggan 0G 1A, 3SOG, +1
Knight 0G 0A, 1SOG, E
Lawler 0G 0A, 1SOG, E
Engstrom DNP
Weiland 0G 0A, 2SOG, -1
Vetter 21 SAV

Mikkelson 0G 0A, 0SOG, E
MacLeod 0G 0A, 2SOG, -2