HEINOLA, Finland - The U.S. Women’s National Under-18 Team earned a trip to the gold-medal game of the 2013 International Ice Hockey Federation U18 Women’s World Championship by defeating the Czech Republic, 10-0, tonight in a semifinal matchup. Fourteen U.S. players recorded points in the victory and Alexis Shaw (Troy, Mich.) made 13 stops for her second shutout of the tournament.
“I thought the first ten minutes we played a bit nervous and not at our best,” said Jeff Kampersal, head coach of Team USA. “Around the 10-minute mark the nerves disappeared and we started to move the puck. I thought the Czech team clogged us up pretty good today and they made us make more bad passes then we’ve done all week, but we picked it up when we needed to.”
Grace Zarzecki (Chicago, Ill.) got the scoring started for the U.S. after picking up a loose puck in the goal crease area and depositing it into the net at 12:06 of the first period. Megan Wolfe (Eagan, Minn.) scored with a rocketing slap shot just 54 seconds later to make it, 2-0. Zarzecki picked up an assist after forcing Czech goalie Kiara Peslarova to direct the puck towards Baylee Wellhausen(Williams Bay, Wis.), who netted a backhander for Team USA’s first of four power-play tallies at 14:59.Kelly Pannek (Plymouth, Minn.) finished scoring in the period with ten seconds left to put the U.S. ahead 4-0 after the opening period.
Schipper scored a second-period power–play goal by picking up Menke’s rebound after Menke lifted a Czech player’s stick, stole the puck, and drove the net. Schipper returned the favor later in the period by assisting on Menke’s goal at 17:12. Cara Piazza (Darien, Ill.) and Pannek picked up their second points of the game on third U.S. goal of the period after Piazza tucked a shot past Czech goalie Barbora Dvorakova, who replaced Peslarova midway through the game. Shaw had her busiest 20 minutes of the game in the second period, turning away nine shots.
In the third period, the U.S. added power-play goals from Dunne and Schipper, and an even-strength tally from Maliya Rodgers (Minnetonka, Minn.), to account for the 10-0 final.
The U.S. will face Canada tomorrow (Jan. 5) at 6:30 p.m. local time (11:30 a.m. EST) in the gold-medal game. The two teams have met in every final since the tournament’s inception in 2008 with the U.S. taking three titles (2008, 2009, and 2011).
NOTES: Cara Piazza was named the U.S. Player of the Game … Forwards Amy Menke (1-3--4) andKatherine Schipper (2-2—4) each contributed four points, while defenseman Jincy Dunne (1-1—2) and Jennifer Ryan (0-2--2) had two points each … Team USA has outscored its opponents, 35-0, in the tournament and is the only team in the tournament that hasn’t been scored upon … Final stats from today’s game can be viewed below.
Game Summary
Scoring by Period 1 2 3 F
CZE 0 0 0 0
USA 4 3 3 10
First Period - Scoring: 1, USA, Zarzecki (Cameranesi, Hirschy), 10:26; 2, USA, Wolfe (Schipper, Menke), 13:00; 3, USA, Wellhausen (Zarzecki, Ryan), 14:59 (pp); 4, USA, Pannek (Piazza, Cameranesi), 19:50. Penalties: USA, Morin (tripping), 2:01; CZE, Laskova (body checking), 3:33; CZE, Vanisova (body checking), 7:30; USA, Schipper (interference), 9:13; CZE, Vanisova (tripping), 14:38; USA, Schipper (hooking), 15:02; CZE, Ledlova (interference), 17:41.
Second Period – Scoring: 5, USA, Schipper (Menke, Wolfe), 6:22 (pp); 6, USA, Menke (Schipper, Dunne), 17:12; 7, USA, Piazza (Laing, Pannek), 19:12. Penalties: CZE, Forejtova (tripping), 5:04; CZE, Walicova (body checking), 9:00; USA, Rodgers (interference), 10:06.
Third Period – Scoring: 8, USA, Dunne (Ryan, Zarzecki), 4:31 (pp); 9, USA, Schipper (Menke, Wolfe), 11:30 (pp); 10, USA, Rodgers (Wellhausen, McKenna), 14:24. Penalties: CZE, Pejzlova (high-sticking), 3:38; CZE, Pribylova (tripping), 7:43; CZE, Vopravilova, 10:50.
Shots on Goal 1 2 3 Total
CZE 1 9 3 13
USA 32 19 25 76
Goaltenders (SV-SH) 1 2 3 Total
CZE, Pesalarova, 32:04 28-32 9-10 - 37-42
CZE, Dvorakova, 27:56 - 7-9 22-25 29-34
USA, Shaw, 60:00 1-1 9-9 3-3 13-13
Power play: CZE 0-4; USA, 4-9
Penalties: CZE 9-18; USA, 4-8
Tag(s): 2013
