The second day of the Girls 16/17 Player Development Camp started bright and early with dynamic warmups led by the strength and conditioning staff that included a few fun games to get the players ready for the day.
All eight teams then hit the ice for their first practices of camp. Each hour-long practice included two teams on the ice at once and wrapped up around 11:45 a.m. local time.
Today’s practice started with 15 minutes of goalie-specific work before all the players took the ice for a station-based practice designed and led by USA Hockey ADM manager of female hockey Emily West. After the station-based portion of practice, the teams split into two groups for a competitive small-area game. Today’s morning sessions touched on many on-ice skills, but primarily honed in on body contact, angling and compete level.
Following the practices, the teams gathered for a presentation by 2020 U.S. U18 Women’s National Team head coach Maura Crowell, who arrived in St. Cloud this morning and will stay for the remainder of camp. During the 45-minute talk, Crowell laid out what she’s looking to see from players throughout the week and the style of play she's looking to implement during the 2020 IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship.
Fresh off her surprise appearance at the opening meeting last evening, Hilary Knight delivered lunch from Chipotle to the campers ahead of Crowell’s presentation and gave a few last words of advice before departing St. Cloud.
Throughout the afternoon, teams had mental skills development sessions with Dr. Tiffany Jones, who you can read more about in today's Staff Spotlight below.
The first set of camp games began at 2:15 p.m. local time and ran until 8 p.m. The game format for camp includes two 23-minute halves. Short recaps and box score links can be found below.
White 5, Royal 1: Emilie Prive gave Team White an early 1-0 lead just 1:45 into the game. Evelyne Blais-Savoie made it 2-0 at the 11:05 mark and then set up Jenna Carpenter for the third Team White goal just 26 seconds later. Hannah Corneliusen got Team Royal on the board with just over three minutes to play in the opening half. Team White added to its lead in the final frame with tallies from Jayden Seifert and Anna Bargman. Grace Campbell, who was in net for Team White in the second half, stopped all 17 shots she faced.
Black 3, Gold 1: Team Black struck first in the second game of the day, with Allison Green opening the scoring just 1:03 into the contest. Team Gold’s Margaret Culp set up Rosemary Doerner to tie the game at the 13:52 mark. Kylie Roberts got the lead back for Team Black two minutes later with Sophia Urban picking up an assist on the play. Allison Green potted the final goal of the game, giving Team Black a 3-1 lead with 8:52 remaining. Josephine Bothun and Paige Taborski combined to stop 22 of 23 shots on goal to help Team Black to the win.
*Team Gold's Hamilton Doster did not dress in today's game due to injury.
Light Blue 3, Gray 0: Team Light Blue picked up a win over Team Gray in the third game of the day. Gali Levy netted the opening goal early in the first half, with the assist coming from Jersey Phillips. Nearly ten minutes later, Courtnie Hogan connected with Emma Thomas to extend the lead to 2-0. In the second half, Sara Bayne added to the lead with Grace Kuipers assisting on the play. Team Light Blue goaltenders McKinley Hoff and Callie Shanahan teamed up for a 23-save shutout performance.
Red 2, Navy 0: In the final matchup of the day, Team Red came out on top. Breanna Studley broke the ice with three minutes left to play in the first half. Kailey Sato assisted on the opening goal. Just over halfway through the second frame, Julia Wysocki netted a power-play goal following a setup by Ashley Clark. Team Red netminders Sydney Costello and Holly Gruber both made 11 saves in the shutout win.
This is the first time attending a Player Development Camp for Dr. Tiffany Jones, although she's presented virtually at various camps over the past few years.
As the mental skills and team building coach, Jones (or Dr. Tiff as the players call her) aims to "help give the players the tools to go back home and continue training their mental toughness." For her, this "skill" is just like any other component of an athletes development and must be something players are constantly striving to improve. Jones admits that it takes a lot of hard work and effort, but can be developed just like any other skill an athlete focuses on.
When asked why she wanted to attend this year's camps, the answer was simple: "There's no better platform to teach players and have an impact on their development as an athlete than these USA Hockey camps."
Jones was also a keynote presenter at the 2018 National Hockey Coaches Symposium, where her presentation gave some of the best hockey coaches in the country actionable items that could be implemented to help players develop mental toughness.
As the owner and president of X-Factor Performance Consulting, Jones has had the opportunity to work with several players on both the U.S. Women's National Hockey Team and U.S. Women's National Soccer Team.