2008 Women's U18 World Championship

[Hux]

Great news for the North American girls, as the first ever U18 World Championship will be held on this side of the pond in early January, during the holiday break, rather than later in the month, or in early February like the European NGBs were hoping.

Should be a great tourney, and a lot of teams that haven't previously been part of the "Senior" Worlds. (OK, maybe not a lot, but one....at least not recently )

My bet is somewhere in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) will be the host site, as other provinces have had their share of World events lately, or in the case of Quebec with the men's next year, or BC with the Olympics will soon.

http://live82.ihwc.net/english/article/ ... artId=2662

[Hux]

Actually, I now realize that the holiday break only applies to the prep school kids, as most everyone else is back to school at the start of the second week of the new year at the latest.

Ah, what could be better than missing school to play hockey while wearing the red, white, and blue?

[brookyone]

Great news for the North American girls, as the first ever U18 World Championship will be held on this side of the pond in early January, during the holiday break, rather than later in the month, or in early February like the European NGBs were hoping.

Should be a great tourney, and a lot of teams that haven't previously been part of the "Senior" Worlds. (OK, maybe not a lot, but one....at least not recently )

Great news indeed, and an excellent idea in my opinion!

Realizing the potential volatility of a discussion, but with sincere hopes it can / will remain completely positive in nature, I'd like to ask members of this forum, if you could pick / suggest 4-6 young ladies from Minnesota as potential members of a USA U18 national team...who would they be? What 4-6 players would be most capable of impacting the national team? Only if one cares to opine or speculate of course. I know it's difficult with the many talented players out there.

[Hux]

With the first ever U18 Worlds starting tomorrow in Calgary I thought I would bump this thread up to the top. If you are interested in watching the games, they will be available via web cast on the Hockey Canada web site.

You can also join the discussion at USCHO.com.


TEN GAMES FROM 2008 IIHF WORLD WOMEN’S UNDER-18 CHAMPIONSHIP, INCLUDING GOLD MEDAL GAME, TO BE WEBCAST LIVE ON TELUS.COM AND HOCKEYCANADA.CA

CALGARY, AB – Hockey Canada, in partnership with premier marketing partner TELUS, have announced that 10 games at the upcoming 2008 IIHF World Women’s Under-18 Championship in Calgary, including six round-robin games, two semi-finals, the bronze medal game and the gold medal game, will be available live via webcast at www.telus.com/hockeycanada.

All of the webcasted games will take place at Father David Bauer Olympic Arena, and will be accessible from anywhere around the world. The webcasts will be free of charge, and can be accessed from the front page of the Hockey Canada website at www.hockeycanada.ca. All games will be hosted on MyTELUS.com through www.telus.com/hockeycanada.

The 2008 IIHF World Women’s Under-18 Championship will be the first ever world championship held at the women’s Under-18 level, with eight teams – Canada, the United States, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Switzerland, Russia and the Czech Republic – taking part in the six-day tournament from January 7-12 at Father David Bauer Olympic Arena and Norma Bush Arena.

The webcasts will begin with the United States vs. Russia round-robin game on Monday, January 7th at 4:15 p.m. MT and run through the gold medal game on Saturday, January 12th at 7:30 p.m. MT.

“TELUS is committed to connecting Canadians to the sports they love. We are excited to be working with Hockey Canada to provide webcasting of this inaugural event,” said Steve Podborski, executive director of sport for TELUS. “As a premier partner of Hockey Canada, TELUS is proud to use our technology to bring the action directly to hockey fans around the world.”

“We are very excited to be able to bring the excitement of the 2008 IIHF World Women’s Under-18 Championship via webcast to not only hockey fans across Canada and in all of the competing countries, but to hockey fans around the world,” says Los Mitchell, chair of the championship host committee. “This world championship is a showcase of the women’s game, and to be able to bring it to so many people is such a thrill.”

For more information on the 2008 IIHF World Women’s Under-18 Championship, including game summaries, features and statistics, check out www.hockeycanada.ca/wwu18.
__________________

[Hux]

Here is the schedule of games for the week:

Gm # Time Game/Result Group Round Arena
Location

Monday, January 7, 2008
01 04:00 PM MST SWE - SUI B Preliminary Norma Bush Arena Calgary, AB, CAN
02 04:15 PM MST USA - RUS B Preliminary Father David Bauer Arena Calgary, AB, CAN
03 07:30 PM MST FIN - GER A Preliminary Norma Bush Arena Calgary, AB, CAN
04 07:45 PM MST CAN - CZE A Preliminary Father David Bauer Arena Calgary, AB, CAN

Tuesday, January 8, 2008
05 04:00 PM MST SWE - RUS B Preliminary Norma Bush Arena Calgary, AB, CAN
06 04:15 PM MST SUI - USA B Preliminary Father David Bauer Arena Calgary, AB, CAN
07 07:30 PM MST FIN - CZE A Preliminary Norma Bush Arena Calgary, AB, CAN
08 07:45 PM MST GER - CAN A Preliminary Father David Bauer Arena Calgary, AB, CAN

Wednesday, January 9, 2008
09 04:00 PM MST RUS - SUI B Preliminary Norma Bush Arena Calgary, AB, CAN
10 04:15 PM MST USA - SWE B Preliminary Father David Bauer Arena Calgary, AB, CAN
11 07:30 PM MST CZE - GER A Preliminary Norma Bush Arena Calgary, AB, CAN
12 07:45 PM MST CAN - FIN A Preliminary Father David Bauer Arena Calgary, AB, CAN

Thursday, January 10, 2008 Off Day

Friday, January 11, 2008
13 04:00 PM MST TBD - TBD - Placement Norma Bush Arena Calgary, AB, CAN
14 04:15 PM MST TBD - TBD - Semi-Final Father David Bauer Arena Calgary, AB, CAN
15 07:30 PM MST TBD - TBD - Placement Norma Bush Arena Calgary, AB, CAN
16 07:45 PM MST TBD - TBD - Semi-Final Father David Bauer Arena Calgary, AB, CAN

Saturday, January 12, 2008
17 09:00 AM MST TBD - TBD - 7th Place Norma Bush Arena Calgary, AB, CAN
18 12:30 PM MST TBD - TBD - 5th Place Norma Bush Arena Calgary, AB, CAN
19 04:00 PM MST TBD - TBD - Bronze Medal Father David Bauer Arena Calgary, AB, CAN
20 07:30 PM MST TBD - TBD - Gold Medal Father David Bauer Arena Calgary, AB, CAN

[Hux]

A very high quality feed from Telus and available in the archives if you miss the game live.

US 3
Russia 0

Shots on goal

US 20
Russia 0

after one period

[Hux]

At the end of two, US on top of Russia 7-0

Shots 44-2 in favor of the US.

[MNHockeyFan]

Russia looks terrible - 2 shots on net in the whole game? How would they do against a good high school team?

[Hux]

Russia looks terrible - 2 shots on net in the whole game? How would they do against a good high school team?

Here is the scary stat: Only 257 girls playing hockey in Russia. (though I wouldn't be surprised if the announcers messed that up and it was actually 2570, still pretty dismal numbers)

[ontheroadagain]

This is scary, is girls hockey not a staple in the olympic picture??? Is the sport losing that much credibility world wide???

[pondhockey]

IIHF WORLD WOMEN'S U-18 GAMES FOR MONDAY, JANUARY 7, 2008

• Sweden 4 - Switzerland 1 - Norma Bush Arena | FINAL
• USA 11 - Russia 0 - Father David Bauer Arena | FINAL
• Finland 2 - Germany 4 - Norma Bush Arena | FINAL
• Canada 11 - Czech Republic 2 - Father David Bauer Arena | FINAL

USA - Russia highlights:

Madison Packer scored three times and added an assist as the USA opened the 2008 IIHF World Women’s Under-18 Championship with an easy 11-0 win over Russia on Monday night.

Packer – named her team’s Player of the Game – scored once in the first period, once in the second and once more in the third as the Americans dominated play from start to finish and held a 67-3 advantage in shots on goal.

Meagan Mangene got the Americans rolling just past the seven-and-a-half-minute mark of the opening period, taking a cross-ice feed from Brianna Decker and snapped it past Russian netminder – and Player of the Game – Anna Vinagradova, who made 32 saves in her 31 minutes of work.

Packer and Erickson rounded out the scoring in the first period for the USA, who outshot Russia 20-0 in the opening 20 minutes, and Packer, Ashley Cottrell, Anne Schleper and Sasha Sherry scored in the second period, the final two coming less than two minutes apart on a pair of American powerplays.

Cottrell, Packer, Amanda Kessel and Kate Bacon rounded out the scoring in the final frame, providing the final margin of victory.

Nine American players – Packer, Cottrell, Kessel, Schleper, Alev Kelter, Brooke Ammerman, Kasey Boucher, Kelley Steadman and Corey Stearns – finished with multiple-point nights, and 15 of the 18 skaters had at least a point in the win.

Alyssa Grogan got the start in the American goal and made two saves, while Rebecca Ruegsegger was forced to make just one, which came in the game’s final 30 seconds.

The USA is back on the ice at Father Davis Bauer Arena when they take on Switzerland on Tuesday at 4:15 p.m. MT, while the Russians will face Sweden at 4:00 p.m. MT at Norma Bush Arena.

[brookyone]

This is scary, is girls hockey not a staple in the olympic picture??? Is the sport losing that much credibility world wide???

Well, I don't guess the skatin' ladies of present day Russia enjoy quite the same "support" the ol' Red Army "amateur" team(s) did.

[MNHockeyFan]

Well, I don't guess the skatin' ladies of present day Russia enjoy quite the same "support" the ol' Red Army "amateur" team(s) did.

Or the scorn and disdain they face when coming home after losing! No questions like, "what happened, were you drunk?"

[boblee]

Sarah Erickson with a HUGE first period for team USA:

2 goals
1 assist

[Aerie]

Sarah Erickson with a HUGE first period for team USA:

2 goals
1 assist

Huge? Against Russia's team? Kinda like saying she had a huge game against Redwood Falls. I watched the game. Russia had no offense or defense. They only had to resurface 1/3 of that sheet of ice.

[elliott70]

US up 10 - zip over the Swiss.

Sara Erickson with just an 'okay game' so far with a hat trick.

[elliott70]

Correction
USA 11
Swiss 0
SOG 63 - 4
Sara Erickson 2 goals and an assist.

[boblee]

Sarah Erickson with a HUGE first period for team USA:

2 goals
1 assist

Huge? Against Russia's team? Kinda like saying she had a huge game against Redwood Falls. I watched the game. Russia had no offense or defense. They only had to resurface 1/3 of that sheet of ice.

2 goals and an assist vs. Switzerland on the world stage in the first period...that's huge.

[brookyone]

04:54 USA 16 Sarah Erickson (18 Amanda Kessel )
18:27 USA 16 Sarah Erickson (18 Amanda Kessel ) PP
19:46 USA 16 Sarah Erickson (18 Amanda Kessel

....hmmm...darned if a guy couldn't get used to this.

[keepitreal]

Today's game vs Sweden should be more of a challenge for the U.S.

Although the webcast announcing is sub-par, the video quality is quite watchable and they have multiple cameras. Some of the referring links above haven't been working for me; if you're having trouble, try these:

Tournament home page:
http://www.hockeycanada.ca/2/6/9/4/5/index1.shtml

Webcast (click on "see more" button to launch player window):
http://www.mytelus.com/events/new_releases/display.vm#

[MNHockeyFan]

Final: U.S. 6, Sweden 2

[Hux]

Final: U.S. 6, Sweden 2

Final: Czech over Germany 3-2, with the game winner coming with one second left on the clock in regulation. Czechs will meet the US in one semi, while the Canadians (who throughly spanked Finland 17-0) will play the Swedes. Tomorrow is an off day, and the semis will be on Friday night.

[cluelessinminnesota]

This Tournament is a huge dissappointment!!!

Why do the best Minnesota high school players need to leave their teams in the middle of a short 25 game season to waste their time against Russia, Switerland etc. These 18 year olds should be in school.

USA Hockey is again showing why they are a weak organization. They lost to Sweden in the last Olympics, they were badly beaten in both the U22 and U19 levels by Canada this summer and now they decide that playing in a bad tournament is more important they playing for your local team in the middle of the winter season.

We need to get rid of a lot of people there starting with some of the Eastern Coaches who have never won a NCAA title. Ohh.... that would be ALL of them.

[Bensonmum]

This Tournament is a huge dissappointment!!!

Why do the best Minnesota high school players need to leave their teams in the middle of a short 25 game season to waste their time against Russia, Switerland etc. These 18 year olds should be in school.

USA Hockey is again showing why they are a weak organization. They lost to Sweden in the last Olympics, they were badly beaten in both the U22 and U19 levels by Canada this summer and now they decide that playing in a bad tournament is more important they playing for your local team in the middle of the winter season.

We need to get rid of a lot of people there starting with some of the Eastern Coaches who have never won a NCAA title. Ohh.... that would be ALL of them.

Thank you Clueless, you put it better than I could have. I agree 100%. This entire tournament is pointless. I was thinking this all along but figured I was missing something or that others would bite my head off if I said it. I like the last paragraph too.
I wonder if any kids simply declined to play or if that isn't an option. I noticed DWelch was on the summer U18 team but didn't go to this event.

**Just occurred to me that Welch might not be U18 for 2008. Duh.

[State Champ 97]

This Tournament is a huge dissappointment!!!

Why do the best Minnesota high school players need to leave their teams in the middle of a short 25 game season to waste their time against Russia, Switerland etc. These 18 year olds should be in school.

USA Hockey is again showing why they are a weak organization. They lost to Sweden in the last Olympics, they were badly beaten in both the U22 and U19 levels by Canada this summer and now they decide that playing in a bad tournament is more important they playing for your local team in the middle of the winter season.

We need to get rid of a lot of people there starting with some of the Eastern Coaches who have never won a NCAA title. Ohh.... that would be ALL of them.

Thank you Clueless, you put it better than I could have. I agree 100%. This entire tournament is pointless. I was thinking this all along but figured I was missing something or that others would bite my head off if I said it. I like the last paragraph too.
I wonder if any kids simply declined to play or if that isn't an option. I noticed DWelch was on the summer U18 team but didn't go to this event.

**Just occurred to me that Welch might not be U18 for 2008. Duh.

I can see why you would be disappointed but Women's hockey is reletively new to most of the world outside of North America. Canada and the US will continue to dominate for a while until the Europeans catch up a bit. It was the same with international basketball. At first we crushed teams by 50-60 points. Now things are much more competetive.