World University Games: Day 8

Men

USA Hockey recap // Box score

Heartbreaking? Absolutely. But amidst the disappointment, let's not forget how far the USA Hockey WUG program, and by extension the ACHA, has progressed even from two years ago, when beating Slovakia was a massive achievement. Or back slightly further, when even winning a single game was cause for celebration. Even though Penn State won't be part of this event next time around, I can't help but think we're leaving it in good hands.

In the meantime, Team USA still has a great shot at fifth place and a final record of 4-2-0, both of which would be bests since 2001. It starts with Japan tomorrow at 8:00 a.m. in the 5th-8th placement playoffs.

Recap:

O'Brien knows clutch, thanks to his crusty hat.

ERZURUM, Turkey – The U.S. Men's National University Team erased a two goal deficit midway through the second period, but eventually fell to Belarus, 6-3, in the quarterfinals of the 2011 Winter World University Games. The U.S. will face Japan tomorrow (Feb. 4) at 8 a.m. EST in the classification round.

"I'm very proud of every player on the team," said Dave Debol, head coach of the U.S. Men's National University Team. "I loved the effort, especially when we were down, 3-1. We never quit and came back to tie the game, but we just fell a little short today."

Belarus took an early 1-0 lead, but Team USA tied the score 12:22 into the first period. Bob Collar (Brighton, Mich./ Davenport University) sent a feed to Michael Macari (Dearborn Heights, Mich./ University of Michigan Dearborn), who fired a shot past Belarus goalie Stepan Goryachevskikh.

Belarus took a 3-1 second period lead, but the U.S. responded with two goals 1:19 apart to tie the game. Alan Dionne (North Scituate, R.I./ University of Rhode Island) scored at the 10:17 mark and Tim O'Brien (Bethel Park, Pa./ Penn State University) followed with a power-play goal to even the score heading into the final frame.

Belarus gained the 4-3 edge just 53 seconds into the third period and added two late goals to secure the 6-3 victory.

Team USA goaltender Dan Pyne (Warrington, Pa./ Drexel University) made 27 saves in the loss, while Goryachevskikh and Vitali Bialinksi combined to stop 22 shots in the win.

Here are highlights from all of the quarterfinal matchups from FISU - O'Brien's goal is included.



Penn State Update

As mentioned a couple of times, Tim O'Brien scored a pretty important goal that brought Team USA back to even at three in the second period - and earned Belarus starting goalie Goryachevskikh the hook. You can see it starting at 1:10 in the video just above - pretty goal. Outside of his power play marker, O'Brien was on for the mid-second period Belarus goal that put the US down 3-1, the third period 5-on-3 Belarus goal that proved to be the game winner and the empty netter that made the score 5-3 late. All of that adds up to a -2. He had four shots and a 1-1 faceoff record... Eric Steinour got into some kind of altercation with Belarussian defenseman Mikhail Kharamanda at 12:22 of the second period. Steinour got a roughing penalty, but Kharamanda got two of them, so well done Big Stein. He rated a -1 by being on ice for the early second period goal that briefly made the score 2-1 Belarus, had two shots on goal and was 1-1 on draws.

Cumulative PSU Stats               

        

                GP  G   A   PTS  +/-  PIM

Tim O'Brien     4   1   0   1    -1   0

Eric Steinour   4   0   0   0    -3   6

Other Games

Kazakhstan turned in a dominant effort against Japan, winning 5-1 in a game that got pretty brutal in the closing minutes (eight roughing minors handed out at the 17:58 mark of the third). Alexandr Lipin's power play goal with 19 seconds left in the second period held up as the winner...Canada earned the second semifinal slot with an also-decisive 9-1 result against Slovakia. It was once again Brandon MacLean leading the way for the neighbors to the north with a five-point effort, including two goals on the advantage...top-seeded Russia withstood a strong early challenge from the Czech Repubic and pulled away over the second half of the game to win 6-1. Also, I retract my "pretty brutal" description of KAZ-JPN above, as this one put that one to shame with 314 total penalty minutes - 272 in the last 16 minutes of the game.

These results, combined with Belarus' win over Team USA, give us semifinal pairings of Belarus-Kazakhstan and Russia-Canada.

In the 9th-12th place playoffs, Slovenia blitzed Turkey 11-1 behind pairs from Jure Miljus, Nik Lahajnar and Grega Pihler. Turkish captain Emre Elevli scored his country's first goal of the tournament (men's or women's) at 14:46 of the first period...Juan Munoz Crego scored the only goal of the shootout as Spain upended South Korea 5-4. Munoz Crego also assisted on Spain's first three goals, which does not include Alejandro Pedraz Martin's power play goal with 2:39 left to force overtime...Slovenia will now play Spain for 9th place tomorrow, while Turkey and South Korea battle for 11th.  

Final Tournament Placement

1. Russia/Belarus/Kazakhstan/Canada

2. Russia/Belarus/Kazakhstan/Canada

3. Russia/Belarus/Kazakhstan/Canada

4. Russia/Belarus/Kazakhstan/Canada

5. Slovakia/Japan/USA/Czech Republic

6. Slovakia/Japan/USA/Czech Republic

7. Slovakia/Japan/USA/Czech Republic

8. Slovakia/Japan/USA/Czech Republic

9. Slovenia/Spain

10. Slovenia/Spain

11. South Korea/Turkey

12. South Korea/Turkey

Upcoming Schedule

February 4th

11th place game:

TUR-KOR 4:00 a.m.

9th place game:

ESP-SLO 5:00 a.m.

5th-8th placement playoffs:
USA-JPN 8:00 a.m., CZE-SVK 12:00 p.m.

February 5th

7th place game:
USA/JPN-CZE/SVK 9:00 a.m.

5th place game:
USA/JPN-CZE/SVK 1:00 p.m.

Semifinals:
KAZ-BLR 9:30 a.m., CAN-RUS 1:00 p.m.

February 6th

Bronze medal game:
KAZ/BLR-CAN/RUS 4:30 a.m.

Gold medal game:
KAZ/BLR-CAN/RUS 8:00 a.m.

Women

The women's field enjoyed their final off day of the tournament ahead of tomorrow's semifinals and Saturday's gold, bronze and fifth-place games. Team USA had a practice ice time scheduled 2:00-2:45 a.m.

Cumulative PSU Stats                        

                GP  G   A   PTS  +/-  PIM
Lindsay Reihl   5   0   2   2    -4   6
Denise Rohlik   5   1   3   4    +7   0

                GP   Record    SOG   SVS  SV%    GAA    SHO
Heather Rossi   3    0-0-0-3   95    81   0.853  5.25   0
Katie Vaughan   3    2-0-0-0   21    18   0.857  1.29   1
        
Upcoming Schedule

February 4th
Semifinals:
SVK-FIN 9:00 a.m., USA-CAN 1:00 p.m.

February 5th

Bronze medal game:
SVK/FIN-USA/CAN 2:30 a.m.

5th place game:
TUR-GBR 5:00 a.m.

Gold medal game:
SVK/FIN-USA/CAN 6:00 a.m.

Payday Memorabilia: Lukas DeLorenzo WUG jersey

Sticking with the World University Games theme that's been so prevalent here over the last week-plus and in honor of Team USA's quarterfinal tilt with Belarus in a few hours, this week's Payday Memorabilia is a replica of the jersey former Icer Lukas DeLorenzo wore at the 2009 event in Harbin, China.

Before I go any further, I want to offer an unpaid endorsement for IceJerseys, the people who helped me put this together. If you're a true jersey nerd like myself, you'll appreciate the fact that they're also jersey nerds who are insane about details and able to customize more than just current NHL styles. Check them out, you won't regret it.

Basically, my starting point was DeLo's shootout winner against Slovakia in group play, which looked something like this.

I'd always wanted a Team USA jersey, and figured hey, why not get one of a Penn Stater who was part of a big moment in an international competition? So I scoured the internet for pictures, but unfortunately had little luck beyond this USA Hockey photo gallery. Among the best pictures from that:

Hey, that's Jamie Zimmel!

From these, I concluded that the team was wearing jerseys modeled after the old Nikes worn by the silver-medal winning US team at the 2002 Olympics, and in a few other competitions from that era. Next stop: eBay, to find someone selling a blank one of those in 2009, which I found for about $15 after a couple months. After that, it was off to the post office to mail it to the Montreal area with instructions to "do it like the 2002 Olympic team." A few weeks later it came back as you see it at the top of the post, complete with DeLorenzo's No. 19 that he wore in the WUG and the A on the front, as he was an alternate captain on the team as well.

PS. If you're another jersey nerd reading this, I know it's not a perfect match. For starters, the WUG team wasn't wearing Nikes, just K1s meant to look like Nikes. Which of course means no swoosh on the front for the WUG version, and no star shoulder patches. Also, the numbers on the WUG jerseys, to me, look to be a little thicker and cut slightly differently. But until you can do it better based on the information available, don't hate.

World University Games: Day 7

Women

USA Hockey recap // Box score

Team USA locked down the final semifinal bid in the women's tournament by whipping Great Britain 8-1. Lots of goals to talk about, so let's hit the recap.

Captain Rumsey had a goal and an assist.

ERZURUM, Turkey – Ramey Weaver (Eagle River, Alaska/ Robert Morris University Illinois) scored the game-winning goal and collected an assist, as the U.S. Women's National University Team earned an 8-1 win over Great Britain here today at the 2011 Winter World University Games. With the victory, the U.S. improved to 2-0-0-3 (W-OTW-OTL-L) and advanced to the semifinal round on Friday (Feb. 4).

"It looked like we had more jump in our step today, so we're back on track and feeling great," said Mo Stroemel, head coach of the 2011 U.S. Women's National University Team. "We'll relish this for a little while and then get ready for the next game."

Team USA opened the scoring just 46 seconds into the first period while on the power play. Weaver passed the puck to Megan Winters (Basking Ridge, N.J./ Northeastern University), who fired a slap shot from the high slot that beat Great Britain goalie Laura Saunders for the early lead.

Midway through the opening frame, Weaver scored the eventual game-winning goal on a feed from Ashley Rumsey (West Olive, Mich./ Grand Valley State University).

Great Britain scored early in the second period, but Team USA responded with two quick goals just 39 seconds apart to gain a 4-1 advantage. Following a Shea Crawford (Selbyville, Del./ Lindenwood University) 4-on-4 tally, Rumsey notched her second point of the game off a rebound after Allysson Arcibal's (Vista, Calif./ Lindenwood University) initial shot was blocked away by Saunders.

Just over three minutes later, Terra Payne (Gaylord, Mich./ Michigan State University) extended the U.S. lead to 5-1 heading into the final frame.

Charlotte Hoium (Falcon Heights, Minn./ Michigan State University) notched a a power-play goal early in the third period and Christina Young (Stafford, Va./ Michigan State University) followed with a goal 48 seconds later off a slap shot from the point to put Team USA ahead, 7-1.

Sarah Jensen (Albert Lea, Minn./ South Dakota State University) finished off the scoring with just under six minutes remaining in regulation.

Katie Vaughan (South Park, Pa./ Penn State University) made 11 saves in the win for the U.S., while Saunders stopped 43 shots in the loss for Great Britain.

Penn State Update

Both Lindsay Reihl and Denise Rohlik contributed to the win with a primary assist. Rohlik's was first, on Payne's late second-period even strength marker that made the score 5-1. Reihl's came on the next US goal, a power play tally by Hoium...both players earned a +1 rating for the game, as Reihl was also on ice for Jensen's goal with 5:55 left that capped the scoring...Rohlik registered two shots on goal, Reihl one...Reihl started and was once again paired with Lindenwood's Crawford...Vaughan was the starting goalie today and continued her strong tournament with stops on 11 of 12 shots. You can see her overall stat line just below - it's good.

Cumulative PSU Stats                        

                GP  G   A   PTS  +/-  PIM
Lindsay Reihl   5   0   2   2    -4   6
Denise Rohlik   5   1   3   4    +7   0

                GP   Record    SOG   SVS  SV%    GAA    SHO
Heather Rossi   3    0-0-0-3   95    81   0.853  5.25   0
Katie Vaughan   3    2-0-0-0   21    18   0.857  1.29   1
        
Other Games

Finland earned the No. 2 seed going into the semifinals by pounding Slovakia 7-0 behind Saara Tuominen's five points (2 goals, 3 assists) and an 11-save shutout from Anna Vanhatalo...Candice Styles scored three times, while Ellie Seedhouse and Breanne George each added two as the Canadians clinched the No. 1 seed with an 11-0 win over Turkey. Turkey has yet to score a goal in the tournament on either the women's or men's side of things.

Final Standings

     GP  W   OTW OTL L   PTS GF:GA

CAN  5   4   1   0   0   14  39:1

FIN  5   4   0   1   0   13  49:3

SVK  5   3   0   0   2   9   33:11

USA  5   2   0   0   3   6   25:18  
GBR  5   1   0   0   4   3   11:36
TUR  5   0   0   0   5   0    0:88

Upcoming Schedule

February 3rd
No games.

February 4th
Semifinals:
SVK-FIN 9:00 a.m., USA-CAN 1:00 p.m.

February 5th

Bronze medal game:
SVK/FIN-USA/CAN 2:30 a.m.

5th place game:
TUR-GBR 5:00 a.m.

Gold medal game:
SVK/FIN-USA/CAN 6:00 a.m.

Men

For the first (and only) time all tournament, there were no men's games today as the teams prepare for the quarterfinals tomorrow.

Cumulative PSU Stats               

        

                GP  G   A   PTS  +/-  PIM

Tim O'Brien     3   0   0   0    +1   0

Eric Steinour   3   0   0   0    -2   4

Upcoming Schedule

February 3rd

9th-12th place playoffs:

TUR-SLO 4:00 a.m., KOR-ESP 5:00 a.m.

Quarterfinals:

SVK-CAN 8:00 a.m., JPN-KAZ 8:00 a.m., USA-BLR 12:00 p.m., CZE-RUS 12:00 p.m.

February 4th

11th place game:

TUR/SLO-KOR/ESP 4:00 a.m.

9th place game:

TUR/SLO-KOR/ESP 5:00 a.m.

5th-8th place 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.

World University Games: Day 6

Men

USA Hockey recap // USA Hockey blog post

To the recap we go:

URI's Lassik (top) and Dionne keyed the win.

ERZURUM, Turkey – Alan Dionne (North Scituate, R.I./ University of Rhode Island) scored the game-winning goal in the third period, as the U.S. Men's National University Team topped Spain, 4-1, here today in its final preliminary-round game of the 2011 Winter World University Games. With the win, Team USA improved to 2-0-0-1 (W-OTW-OTL-L) and advanced to the quarterfinal round on Thursday (Feb. 3).

"When the game was scoreless after two periods, we just kept pressing and, sure enough, the puck started going in for us," said Dave Debol, head coach of the U.S. Men's National University Team. "If you stick to your gameplan, sooner or later you are going to get opportunities."

The game remained scoreless through the first period, as Team USA killed off a 5-on-3 power-play opportunity for Spain. The U.S. then outshot Spain in the middle frame, 19-3, but the game remained tied, 0-0, after two.

Team USA opened the scoring 2:47 into the third period, when Devin Sheehan (Binghamton, N.Y./ University of Rhode Island) tipped a shot from Dan Lassik (Garnet Valley, Pa./ University of Rhode Island) into the net on the right side.

Spain tied the game at the 3:51 mark, but the U.S. answered with a goal just 15 seconds later to gain a 2-1 edge. Dionne fired a shot from the top of the left faceoff circle that beat Spanish goaltender Ander Alcaine for the eventual game-winner.

Four minutes after, Bob Collar (Brighton, Mich./ Davenport University) extended Team USA's lead to 3-1, when he stickhandled at the top of the crease and pushed the puck past Alcaine.

Kyle Krannich (Randolph, N.J./ University of Rhode Island) then scored off a backhanded shot from the right side with 7:22 remaining in regulation to secure the U.S. victory.

Team USA goaltender Dan Pyne (Warrington, Pa./ Drexel University) made 15 saves in the win, while Spanish goalie Alcaine Val stopped 49 shots in the loss.

Penn State Update

Tim O'Brien had a good game. Playing with Bob Collar and Michael Macari, two of the team's best forwards, he registered three shots on goal. One of these was a shorthanded breakaway 6:47 into the first period that was stopped by Spain goalie Ander Alcaine Val. He was on ice for Collar's third period goal that gave Team USA a cushion at 3-1...Eric Steinour also had three shots, as well as four penalty minutes. The first two were on a first period boarding call, successfully killed, and the other two were for a trip with 48 seconds left in the game, which obviously didn't hurt anything. He took five faceoffs, winning four, but rated a -1 for the game by being on for Spain's only goal, which tied the score at 1 for 15 seconds in the third.

Cumulative PSU Stats               
        
                GP  G   A   PTS  +/-  PIM
Tim O'Brien     3   0   0   0    +1   0
Eric Steinour   3   0   0   0    -2   4

Other Games

Belarus trumped Slovenia 5-1 behind a goal and an assist from both Kiryl Brykun and Mikalai Susla. The win clinched a spot in the quarterfinals - as well as one for the Czech Republic...Slovakia used two Matej Hanciak goals to help upset Kazakhstan 6-2. This result created a three-team (KAZ, SVK, USA) logjam atop Group C at the six-point mark.

Final 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
BLR  3   2   1   0   0   8   16:4
CAN  3   2   0   1   0   7   14:5
SLO  3   1   0   0   2   3   11:16
KOR  3   0   0   0   3   0    5:21

Group C

     GP  W   OTW OTL L   PTS GF:GA
KAZ  3   2   0   0   1   6    9:6
SVK  3   2   0   0   1   6   17:10
USA  3   2   0   0   1   6   11:9 
ESP  3   0   0   0   3   0    2:14

So there you have it for group play. Your eight quarterfinalists are Russia, Belarus, Canada, Slovakia, Kazakhstan, USA, Japan and the Czech Republic. Slovenia, Spain, South Korea and Turkey are out of contention and will engage in a mini-playoff to decide 9th through 12th place. Check the schedule just below this for the matchups and times.

Upcoming Schedule

February 2nd
No games.

February 3rd
9th-12th playoffs:
TUR-SLO 4:00 a.m., KOR-ESP 5:00 a.m.

Quarterfinals:
SVK-CAN 8:00 a.m., JPN-KAZ 8:00 a.m., USA-BLR 12:00 p.m., CZE-RUS 12:00 p.m.

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.

Women

The entire field had the day off from games. Team USA's practice was scheduled 8:00-8:45 a.m.

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
        
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

Obviously, with no games today, the same scenarios as yesterday still hold. So here's what I said yesterday.

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 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.

Pegula Agrees to Purchase Sabres

After months of speculation - and jamming my inbox with said speculation via Google Alerts - the Buffalo Sabres have finally announced that Penn State hockey benefactor Terry Pegula has agreed to purchase the team from Tom Golisano. Doesn't get much more official than the official site:

The Buffalo Sabres today announced that Tom Golisano has reached an agreement to sell the Buffalo Sabres and its related companies to Terry Pegula. The agreement, completed at 1 p.m. today, is subject to certain closing conditions including review and approval by the National Hockey League. It is expected the NHL review process will take several weeks to complete.

Tom Golisano and Larry Quinn will hold a press conference on Thursday at Noon in HSBC Arena. There will be no further comment until the press conference.

Terry Pegula will not be at Thursday’s press conference.

Hopefully this means that the Sabres jump in line ahead of the Penguins and Flyers for training camp at the Pegula Ice Arena and that many PSU alumni go from blue and white to blue and gold (way) down the road. That would be awesome. Make it happen, Terry. And bring a Cup to some of the best fans in the world while you're at it. No pressure.