PRESS CONFERENCE

On Saturday evening, U.S. head coach Maura Crowell (Mansfield, Mass.) and team captain Dominique Petrie (Hermosa Beach, Calif.) traveled to Tokachi Plaza in Obihiro for a press conference with members of the Japanese media. Along with the U.S. team, head coaches and team captains from Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Japan, Russia, Sweden and Switzerland also attended,

Captains and head coaches were asked a multitude of questions, including what they want to accomplish at the tournament and what they thought of the manga-inspired tournament art.

Following the press conference, representatives from all teams got together for a group photo, including a photo of just the captains holding up the tournament art.

ALMOST GAME TIME

Team USA will play in its first game of the tournament on Sunday when it takes on Russia at 5 p.m. local time/3 a.m. ET. The U.S. holds a 10-0-0-0 (W-OTW-OTL-L) record against Russia all-time in IIHF Under-18 Women’s World Championship play. The two teams last met on Jan. 7, 2018 in the preliminary round of the 2018 tournament, where the U.S. earned a 5-3 win. U.S. forward Taylor Heise (Lake City, Minn.) scored twice  in the victory.