World University Games: Day 5

Women

USA Hockey recap

Just a brief recap today:

ERZURUM, Turkey – The U.S. Women's National University Team fell to Canada, 9-0, here today at the 2011 Winter World University Games. Heather Rossi (Effort, Pa./ Penn State University) and Katie Vaughan (South Park, Pa./ Penn State University) combined to stop 35 shots in the loss for the U.S., which is competing in the women's tournament for the first time.

Canada opened the scoring just two minutes into the game, and then gained a 3-0 lead before heading into the first intermission.

Only 26 seconds into the middle frame, Canada extended its lead to 4-0. Three straight goals carried them into the third period up 7-0.

Canada notched two more goals by the midway point of the final frame to seal its 9-0 victory.

Team USA will next face Great Britain in its final preliminary-round game on Wednesday (Feb. 2) at 5:30 a.m. EST.

Given that 91 percent of my page views come from the United States (I thought it would be higher too), I'm going to guess that most of you don't really care to read more than that anyway. Although if you do want more for some reason, here's the FISU highlight reel.



Penn State Update

Not a whole lot of positives to report. Heather Rossi started for the second consecutive game and gave up seven goals on 36 shots. She was then replaced by Katie Vaughan to start the third period, and Vaughan saved five of seven in mop-up duty...Lindsay Reihl was on ice for Canada goals number two, three and four spanning the first and second periods while Denise Rohlik was on for goal number six in the second. Neither recorded any shots or penalty minutes.

Cumulative PSU Stats                        

                GP  G   A   PTS  +/-  PIM
Lindsay Reihl   4   0   1   1    -5   6
Denise Rohlik   4   1   2   3    +6   0

                GP   Record    SOG   SVS  SV%    GAA    SHO
Heather Rossi   3    0-0-0-3   95    81   0.853  5.25   0
Katie Vaughan   2    1-0-0-0   9     7    0.778  1.50   1
        

Other Games

Slovakia smoked Great Britain 8-0 behind goals from six different players, including two from Petra Jurcova and Anna Dzurnakova, as well as a combined six-save shutout from Zuzana Tomcikova and Monika Kvakova...Finland - I just learned today that the Finns have five players (goalie Anna Vanhatalo and forwards Anne Helin, Venla Hovi, Annina Rajahuhta and Saara Tuominen) who won bronze at the Vancouver Olympics - ran up the score 32-0 over Turkey. Shots were 95-4. I don't think I gave Team USA enough credit yesterday for hanging in with this group.

Current Standings

     GP  W   OTW OTL L   PTS GF:GA

CAN  4   3   1   0   0   11  28:1

FIN  4   3   0   1   0   10  42:3

SVK  4   3   0   0   1   9   33:4

USA  4   1   0   0   3   3   17:17  
GBR  4   1   0   0   3   3   10:28

TUR  4   0   0   0   4   0    0:77

The picture continues to crystallize. I'm going to assume Canada squeaks one out against Turkey to give them the top seed going into the semifinals, which are Friday. Finland and Slovakia have both clinched semifinal spots as well and will battle on Wednesday to determine which is second and which is third. The US-Great Britain matchup earlier that day will determine the final team advancing to the semifinals, with the loser playing Turkey for fifth place on Saturday.

Upcoming Schedule

February 1st:

No games.

February 2nd:

GBR-USA 5:30 a.m., SVK-FIN 9:00 a.m., TUR-CAN 1:00 p.m.

February 3rd:
No games.

February 4th:
Semifinals 9:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m.

February 5th:

Bronze medal game 2:30 a.m., 5th place game 5:00 a.m., gold medal game 6:00 a.m.

Men

Tim O'Brien and Team USA are looking to advance against Spain tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. Photo: Shane Bufano

The men's team, and all of Group C for that matter, didn't play today before facing Spain in a vital game for both advancement and placement at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow. The scheduled practice time for Team USA was 1:00 a.m. through 1:45 a.m. Lindenwood's Steve Balint offered slightly more detail in his tournament player blog.

Anyways, we have [today] off from games and we have practice at 8 a.m. and a team picture, followed by the women’s game against Canada.

Cumulative PSU Stats               
        
                GP  G   A   PTS  +/-  PIM
Tim O'Brien     2   0   0   0     0   0
Eric Steinour   2   0   0   0    -1   0

Other Games

In a thriller that wasn't decided by 65 minutes, Japan's Hiromichi Terao first tied the Czech Republic at 1 in the third period, then added the shootout winner as the Japanese clinched a quarterfinals bid with a 2-1 win. The Czechs will now have to sweat out their fate, although the extra point for the overtime loss and the good goal differential certainly help...Russia completed a clean sweep of Group A by drumming Turkey to the tune of 26-0. Nine players had at least five points, paced by eight from Stanislav Golovanov and five goals from Sergey Salnikov. The Russians were already through to the quarterfinals, but the huge goal differential more or less assures them the No. 1 seed...Canada got all they wanted from a South Korea team that had little to play for, but Brandon MacLean's power play marker midway through the third gave them a 3-2 win. The victory clinches a spot in the quarterfinals for the Canadians.

Current Standings

Group A

     GP  W   OTW OTL L   PTS GF:GA
RUS  3   3   0   0   0   9   34:3
JPN  3   1   1   0   1   5   22:4
CZE  3   1   0   1   1   4   18:7
TUR  3   0   0   0   3   0    0:60

Group B

     GP  W   OTW OTL L   PTS GF:GA
CAN  3   2   0   1   0   7   14:5
BLR  2   1   1   0   0   5   11:3
SLO  2   1   0   0   1   3   10:11
KOR  3   0   0   0   3   0    5:21

Group C

     GP  W   OTW OTL L   PTS GF:GA
KAZ  2   2   0   0   0   6    7:0
USA  2   1   0   0   1   3    7:8 
SVK  2   1   0   0   1   3   11:8
ESP  2   0   0   0   2   0    1:10

As mentioned, Russia (9 points, +31) and Japan (5, +18) have already clinched two of the eight quarterfinal spots by virtue of finishing as the top two of Group A. Canada (7, +9) has likewise clinched a top-two spot in Group B and will be in the final eight as well.

Another spot will go to the winner of the Belarus-Slovenia match tomorrow. Team USA is also in a win-and-in situation against Spain. Kazakhstan, with their tiebreaker advantages, would need a lot to go wrong to not get in. Slovakia, the Slovenia-Belarus loser and the Czech Republic are in the running for top-eight consideration as well.

Turkey and South Korea have been eliminated from quarterfinal contention and will participate in the 9th-12th place playoffs, beginning Thursday. Spain is likely to join them, even with win against Team USA, since they lose a head-to-head tiebreaker with Slovakia and aren't in a good position in terms of goal differential.

Upcoming Schedule

February 1st:
BLR-SLO 5:00 a.m., USA-ESP 9:00 a.m., SVK-KAZ 1:00 p.m.

February 2nd:
No games.

February 3rd:
9th-12th playoffs 4:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m., quarterfinals 5:00 a.m. (2), 12:00 p.m. (2)

February 4th:
11th place game 4:00 a.m., 9th place game 5:00 a.m., 5th-8th playoffs 8:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m.

February 5th:
7th place game 9:00 a.m., 5th place game 1:00 p.m., semifinals 9:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m.

February 6th:
Bronze medal game 4:30 a.m., gold medal game 8:00 a.m.