A Gross Injustice

Abby Miller is suddenly free on March 10th.

Amidst the excitement of the Icers qualifying for their record 20th consecutive ACHA national championship tournament, all is not right in the world of Penn State hockey. 



The Lady Icers finished 9th in the final Women's Division 1 poll released today, one solitary point behind No. 8 Michigan and therefore one solitary point out of ACHA national tournament contention. That, in and of itself, is not the issue - after all, someone has to be the first team out.

Back on January 28th, the date of the last poll, things were a little different, with PSU fairly secure in the top eight:

7. Penn State 113 points, 8-7-1 record
8. Massachusetts, 102, 4-8-3
9. Liberty, 90, 6-3-3
10. Michigan, 87, 8-10-0

Vital pieces Rossi (top) and Vaughan.

So what happened between January 28th and February 17th? Well, for one thing, the World University Games happened. The Lady Icers sent as much personnel over to Turkey as anyone - four players and a head coach. And not just any four players either, as both goaltenders, Heather Rossi and Katie Vaughan, were included in that group. And thanks in large part to the efforts of those two, forward Denise Rohlik, defender Lindsay Reihl and coach Mo Stroemel, the first-ever women's WUG team finished fourth. A pretty decent endorsement for the level of hockey played in the ACHA if you ask me, something for which every coach, player and fan in Women's D1 should be thankful.


Meanwhile back home, the Lady Icers predictably struggled while a series of non-goalies took turns between the pipes. First, it was leading scorer Carly Szyszko helping PSU to a 5-1 win over California (PA). However after that, No. 2 Robert Morris (IL) and then-No. 3 Michigan State came calling, and the results weren't pretty. As those games progressed, Szyszko gave way to Julie Horn, who then gave way to Lindsey Shuler.

Once the WUG contingent returned, the team bounced back into form, earning a road win and tie against always-tough Liberty. The tie was particularly tough to swallow though:

Allie Rothman called Liberty’s game-tying goal with one second left in the third period of Saturday night’s game a “really unfortunate goal.”

“I don’t know what happened, but there was no one on that girl,” the freshman defender said about the goal scorer.

Head coach Mo Stroemel said Liberty pulled its goalie in an attempt to tie the Lady Icers and the Flames fired a shot from the side that was deflected into the net.

“We let down right at the end, and we didn’t attack the shooter, and we gave her a shot,” Stroemel said.

Was that one second the difference between being in and being out? Maybe. But it shouldn't have been. Szyszko after the Robert Morris games:

“Everyone knows our situation...when Heather and Katie are gone, it’s big.”

Evidently everyone doesn't know. Just another reason I can't wait to be rid of the ACHA's garbage after next year. Giving the men's team a tougher road to the national championship (in my opinion) for some unstated and probably nonsensical/arbitrary reason is one thing. Kicking the women, a proven top-eight team when they have a goalie, out of the tournament altogether essentially for sending too many players to WUG to represent their country (and help the ACHA look good) is simply obtuse.

Update: The Collegian got some team reaction to the snub, mostly from Rossi and fellow senior Amanda Yost.

World University Games: Day 9

Men

USA Hockey recap

I guess taking a ton of penalties isn't quite as bad when you score almost as many shorthanded as the other team does on the power play. It wasn't easy, or pretty, but the win guarantees Team USA its highest WUG finish since the ACHA helped revive the American presence at the event in 2001. The US earned a bronze medal at the 1972 WUG using players from...I don't know, somewhere else. The NCAA, presumably. Here's the write-up: 

Lepre bagged a shorty

ERZURUM, Turkey – Paced by shorthanded goals from Michael Lepre (Chesterland, Ohio/Kent State University) and Devin Sheehan (Binghamton, N.Y./University of Rhode Island), the U.S. Men's National University Team topped Japan, 5-3, at the 2011 Winter World University Games. Eleven players recorded a point for Team USA, which advances to the fifth-place game against Slovakia tomorrow (Feb. 5) at 1 p.m. EST.

"This is a huge win for us, especially since Japan has beaten us at the last two tournaments," said Dave Debol, head coach of the U.S. Men's National University Team. "We've accomplished our goal of placing higher than we ever have before at this tournament and earning fifth place would be a great honor."

Team USA opened the scoring 6:39 into the first period, when Lepre notched a shorthanded tally. Augie Hoffmann (Lake Forest, Ill./University of Oklahoma) sent a feed to Lepre, who skated up ice on a breakaway and fired a shot from the top of the faceoff circle that beat Japanese goaltender Yuta Narisawa.

Japan tied the game at the 10:45 mark of the second period, but the U.S. gained a 2-1 edge less than five minutes later with a goal by Alan Dionne (North Scituate, R.I./University of Rhode Island).

Tim O'Brien (Bethel Park, Pa./Penn State University) then scored with just :38 remaining in the middle frame to give Team USA a two-goal cushion heading into the third period.

The U.S. took a 4-1 lead 4:38 into the third period when Sheehan scored Team USA's second shorthanded goal of the game. Japan scored twice to cut the U.S. lead to 4-3, but Kevin Kranker (Lake Orion, Mich./Oakland University) notched a power-play goal to secure the 5-3 victory.

Team USA goaltender Erik Hudson (Spokane, Wash./Iowa State University) made 36 saves in the win, while Narisawa stopped 29 shots for Japan.

Penn State Update

For the second straight game, O'Brien scored an important goal on a day where they were all pretty important. It came on a 2-on-1 with Grant Gorczyca at the 19:22 mark of the second period. In a rare act of Penn State-Ohio cooperation, Tyler Pilmore had the second assist. O'Brien was also on for Ryo Murakami's third-period goal that trimmed the US lead to 4-2, so he comes out even on the plus-minus ledger. He added two shots other than the goal and was 1-2 on faceoffs...Eric Steinour was on ice for Kranker's power play goal with 6:41 left that restored sanity after Japan had trimmed a 4-1 lead to 4-3. He had one third-period shot and a 1-1 faceoff record.

Cumulative PSU Stats               

        

                GP  G   A   PTS  +/-  PIM

Tim O'Brien     5   2   0   2    -1   0

Eric Steinour   5   0   0   0    -3   6

Other Games

In the 11th place game, Turkey managed to score for the second straight game, but it wasn't enough to match Sang Youp Lee's two first period goals as South Korea defeated Turkey 4-1...in a surprising result to anyone who's been playing close attention, Spanish goaltender Ander Alcaine Val was beaten seven times in just over 50 minutes as Slovenia cruised past Spain 8-0 in the 9th place game behind eight different goal scorers.

Ondrej Zosiak's power play goal goal with 6:18 left completed Slovakia's comeback from an early 2-0 hole and boosted them past the Czech Republic 3-2. The Slovaks were outshot 36-18, however goalie Peter Pus stopped 34 Czech attempts, including all 16 he faced in the third period. Slovakia moves on to face Team USA for 5th place, while the Czech Republic battles Japan for 7th.

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/USA

6. Slovakia/USA

7. Japan/Czech Republic

8. Japan/Czech Republic

9. Slovenia

10. Spain

11. South Korea

12. Turkey

Upcoming Schedule

February 5th

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

5th place game:
USA-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

USA Hockey recap

No point in wasting time - straight to the recap we go:

Reihl's assist helped bring the US within one

ERZURUM, Turkey – The U.S. Women's National University Team fell to Canada, 8-1, here today at the 2011 Winter World University Games. The U.S., which is competing in the women's tournament for the first time, will play in the bronze-medal game against Slovakia tomorrow (Feb. 5) at 2:30 a.m. EST.

After Canada took a 2-0 lead at the 12:46 mark of the first period, the U.S. responded with a goal to cut its deficit in half. Team USA led a rush into the offensive zone and Lindsay Reihl (Cheshire, Conn./Penn State University) fed the puck to Charlotte Hoium (Falcon Heights, Minn./Michigan State University), who sent a shot past Canadian goaltender Liz Knox.

Canada scored just :55 into the middle frame and notched two more goals to take a 5-1 lead into the third period.

Team USA killed four penalties in the final frame, but Canada scored three unanswered goals to seal the victory.

Goaltender Heather Rossi (Effort, Pa./Penn State University) made 48 saves for the U.S., while Knox and Beth Clause stopped six shots for Canada.

Hate to tell you, but there's also video - second half of this:



Penn State Update

Rossi started and finished the game in goal. She faced a tremendously adverse situation, with Canada outshooting the US by a staggering 56-7 count, but came out of it standing - despite the eight goals against, she actually improved her save percentage for the tournament. Rossi also took a charging penalty (successfully killed) in the third period. I'd love to see how that happened...Reihl assisted on Hoium's late first period goal that kept Team USA in the game, at least at the first intermission. However, she was also on ice for five Canadian goals (one on the power play) resulting in a -3 for the game. Reihl's three total points currently place her 16th in scoring by defenders at the tournament...neither Reihl nor Denise Rohlik recorded a shot on goal.

Cumulative PSU Stats                        

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

                GP   Record    SOG   SVS  SV%    GAA    SHO
Heather Rossi   4    0-0-0-4   151   129  0.854  6.00   0
Katie Vaughan   3    2-0-0-0   21    18   0.857  1.29   1
        
Other Games

In the other semifinal matchup, Finland overpowered Slovakia 5-1 with a 42-11 shot differential. Venla Hovi scored the game-winning goal and assisted on three others to support the winning cause. The Finns are now assured of at least the silver medal and will take on Canada for the gold tomorrow at 6:00 a.m.

Final Tournament Placement

1. Canada/Finland

2. Canada/Finland

3. Slovakia/USA

4. Slovakia/USA

5. Great Britain/Turkey

6. Great Britain/Turkey

Upcoming Schedule

February 5th

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

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

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

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.

World University Games: Day 4

Men

USA Hockey recap // Box score

Here are the highlights from the FISU...



...and the USA Hockey recap.

Michael Macari helped erase an early deficit.

ERZURUM, Turkey – Michael Macari (Dearborn Heights, Mich./ University of Michigan Dearborn) recorded a three-point game and Tom Ciaverilla (Novi, Mich./ Adrian College) scored the game-winner, as the U.S. Men's National University Team defeated Slovakia, 7-3, here today at the Cemal Gürsel Sport Complex, in its second game of the 2011 Winter World University Games.

"The entire team played great and you could see our confidence building as the game went on," said Dave Debol, head coach of the U.S. Men's National University Team. "This game was pivotal for us. We put ourselves in a good spot, and now we have to compete well against Spain on Tuesday like we did today."

Slovakia opened the scoring 3:12 into the first period, but Team USA answered just 29 seconds later with Macari's first tally of the game. Kyle Krannich (Mendham, N.J./ University of Rhode Island) then gave the U.S. a 2-1 edge just over two minutes later, when he scored shorthanded on a breakaway.

With Team USA on the power play, Macari extended the U.S. lead to 3-1 at the 11:44 mark of the opening frame. Two minutes later, Team USA gained a 5-on-3 man advantage and Ciaverilla notched the eventual game-winner.

Slovakia scored on the power play with just over two minutes remaining in the first period, but the U.S. carried a 4-2 lead into intermission.

Brandon Contratto (West Bloomfield, Mich./ University of Michigan Dearborn) notched an early second-period goal on a breakaway to give Team USA a three-goal cushion. Slovakia narrowed the margin midway through the frame, but the U.S. answered with a goal two minutes later at the 11:21 mark. Tyler Pilmore (Sylvania, Ohio/ Ohio University) sent a feed to Steve Balint (Grosse Ile, Mich./ Lindenwood University) at the hash mark, who fired a shot past Slovakian goaltender Peter Pus to give the U.S. a 6-3 lead.

Bob Collar (Brighton, Mich./ Davenport University) notched the lone third-period goal on a breakaway to seal Team USA's 7-3 victory.

U.S. goaltender Dan Pyne (Warrington, Pa./ Drexel University) made 23 saves in the win, while Slovakian goaltenders Peter Pus and Michael Siarnik combined to stop 40 shots in the loss.

Team USA will next face Spain in its final preliminary-round game on Tuesday (Feb. 1) at 9 a.m. EST.

Penn State Update

Despite the seven goals scored by Team USA, neither Tim O'Brien or Eric Steinour recorded any points...O'Brien earned a +1 for the game by being on for Michael Macari's early first-period goal that evened the score at 1-1. Both players were on successful power play attempts as well, first O'Brien on Macari's second goal that made it 3-1 11:44 into the game, then Steinour just over three minutes later when Tom Ciaverilla scored with a two-man advantage...in all, O'Brien recorded four shots on goal, Steinour one...Steinour was 2-2 on draws, O'Brien won both of his attempts.

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 an extremely physical game (90 total penalty minutes), Slovenia used Klemen Sodrznik's hat trick to help blow out South Korea 10-2...Spain goaltender Ander Alcaine Val turned in one of the tournament's best performances so far, saving an incredible 64 of 65 shots. However, Eduard Mazula's third period goal was enough for Kazakhstan, and an empty netter provided the final 2-0 margin. Kazakhstan has yet to surrender a goal in the tournament.

Current Standings

Group A

     GP  W   OTW OTL L   PTS GF:GA
RUS  2   2   0   0   0   6    8:3
JPN  2   1   0   0   1   3   20:3
CZE  2   1   0   0   1   3   17:5
TUR  2   0   0   0   2   0    0:34

Group B

     GP  W   OTW OTL L   PTS GF:GA
BLR  2   1   1   0   0   5   11:3
CAN  2   1   0   1   0   4   11:3 
SLO  2   1   0   0   1   3   10:11
KOR  2   0   0   0   2   0    3:18

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

With two of three group games complete for each team, some scenarios are developing. Russia has clinched a quarterfinal spot and looks like the No. 1 seed going in with a likely sweep of Group A and the goal differential they'll build up by beating Turkey 20 or 25 to 0. Kazakhstan is a win against Slovakia away from likely taking the No. 2 spot, while Canada, Belarus and now Team USA also look good to make the quarterfinals. The Japan-Czech Republic tilt tomorrow may prove to be an elimination game, but then again, maybe not, with both teams carrying hefty goal differentials. Thanks, Turkey.

For the Americans, a regulation win against Spain gets them in and with six total points - ideally, this will be enough to get up to the No. 5 seed, avoiding some of the top teams, but there's still a lot yet to be decided before anyone can make a call on that.

Upcoming Schedule

January 31st:
JPN-CZE 5:00 a.m., TUR-RUS 9:00 a.m., CAN-KOR 1:00 p.m.

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.

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

Women

USA Hockey recap // Box score

While the loss stings, it probably has to be considered a nice showing against the defending bronze medalists. We'll once again let USA Hockey tell the story.

Megan Winters (top), Heather Rossi (bottom)

ERZURUM, Turkey – Megan Winters (Basking Ridge, N.J./ Northeastern University) scored late in the third period to bring Team USA within one goal, but the U.S. Women's National University Team dropped a 3-1 decision to Finland here today at the 2011 Winter World University Games. The U.S., which is competing in the women's tournament for the first time, now has a 1-0-0-2 (W-OTW-OTL-L) record.

After a scoreless first period, Finland gained a 1-0 lead at the 4:44 mark of the middle frame. The goal was reviewed for a possible high stick, but remained as called on the ice. Finland scored less than three minutes later to take a 2-0 lead into the second intermission.

Team USA started the third period with a 5-on-3 penalty kill. Then, with only 2:51 remaining in regulation, the U.S. reduced Finland's lead to 2-1 while on the power play. Shea Crawford (Selbyville, Del./ Lindenwood University) sent a pass to Winters, who fired a slap shot past Finnish goaltender Anna Vanhatalo for the score.

The U.S. sent an extra skater to the ice with 1:25 left in the final frame, but Finland notched an empty-netter to seal its 3-1 victory.

Goaltender Heather Rossi (Effort, Pa./ Penn State University) stopped 34 shots in the loss for Team USA, while Vanhatalo made 12 saves in the win for Finland.

The U.S. will next face off against Canada on Monday (Jan. 31) at 4 a.m. EST.

Penn State Update

It was again Heather Rossi's turn between the pipes, and she responded tremendously, with 34 saves on 36 shots (the third Finland goal was on an empty net). Both Finnish goals against Rossi came among a bombardment of 16 shots during the second period...Lindsay Reihl committed a high sticking infraction at 5:15 of the second period. The penalty was killed, although Finland scored 11 seconds after it ended while she was on the ice...Denise Rohlik did not record any statistics.

Cumulative PSU Stats                        

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

                GP   Record    SOG   SVS  SV%    GAA    SHO
Heather Rossi   2    0-0-0-2   59    52   0.881  3.50   0
Katie Vaughan   1    1-0-0-0   2     2    1.000  0.00   1
        

Other Games

Non-competitive games were the order elsewhere. Canada got revenge on Great Britain for that whole colonization thing to the tune of 14-0. Candice Styles had four of the goals, Breanne George added three more and two assists and Andrea Boras assisted on five. Shots on goal were 48-4...Slovakia beat Turkey even worse than that - 20-0. In a game full of gaudy scoring numbers, Martina Velickova's four goals and four assists stand out. Shots in this one were 73-6.

Current Standings

     GP  W   OTW OTL L   PTS GF:GA

CAN  3   2   1   0   0   8   19:1

FIN  3   2   0   1   0   7   10:3

SVK  3   2   0   0   1   6   25:4

USA  3   1   0   0   2   3   17:8  

GBR  3   1   0   0   2   3   10:20

TUR  3   0   0   0   3   0    0:45

Even with two games left in the round robin for each team, it's pretty easy to see how things are shaping up.

• Canada has dominated throughout, and it will take a pretty big upset at this point for them not to be semifinal seed No. 1. 
• Finland and Slovakia do battle Wednesday, which in all likelihood (since both hold tiebreaker advantages over Team USA) to determine the 2nd and 3rd teams - although the order doesn't really matter that much, since they'd play again in the semifinal.
• Earlier that day, the US plays Great Britain, which may decide the last semifinal spot.

Upcoming Schedule

January 31st:

USA-CAN 4:00 a.m., SVK-GBR 8:00 a.m., FIN-TUR 12:00 p.m.

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.

World University Games: Day 1

Women

Recap // Box score

Unfortunately, Team USA's highly-anticipated WUG debut didn't go very well, as the Americans dropped a 5-1 decision to Slovakia. Since I didn't see the game, I'm going to have to rely heavily (okay, entirely) on the USA Hockey release. Thanks, USA Hockey.

Samantha Redick scored Team USA's goal.

ERZURUM, Turkey – The U.S. Women's National University Team fell to Slovakia, 5-1, here today in its opening game of the 2011 Winter World University Games. Samantha Redick (Anchorage, Alaska/ Lindenwood University) scored for the U.S., which is competing in the women's tournament for the first time.

"It's pretty exciting for all of us to be a part of the first U.S. women's team at this event and represent our country," said Mo Stroemel, head coach of the U.S. Women's National University Team. "It is a tough loss for the first outing, but we have a chance to bounce back with a game again tomorrow against the host country."

Slovakia took a 3-0 lead early in the second period, before the U.S. responded with a goal at the 10:20 mark of the middle frame. Ashley Rumsey (West Olive, Mich./ Grand Valley State University) sent a pass to Redick, who fired a shot past Slovakia goaltender Zuzana Tomcikova for Team USA's first goal of the tournament.

Slovakia added two more goals in the third period to seal the victory, 5-1.

Goaltender Heather Rossi (Effort, Pa./ Penn State University) made 18 saves for the U.S. in the loss.

Team USA will next face host Turkey tomorrow (Jan. 28) at 4 a.m. EST.

Penn State Update

Heather Rossi started and finished the game in net for Team USA, recording 18 saves on 23 shots...Lindsay Reihl was paired with Lindenwood's Shea Crawford on defense and was a -2 (on ice for the Slovakia goals that made it 2-0 at 13:36 of the first period and 3-0 at 0:48 of the second period. She also took a holding penalty at 8:05 of the third period that was successfully killed...Denise Rohlik and Katie Vaughan (obviously, since Rossi played the whole game) did not record any stats.

Cumulative PSU Stats

                GP  G   A   PTS  +/-  PIM
Lindsay Reihl   1   0   0   0    -2   2
Denise Rohlik   1   0   0   0     0   0

                GP   Record    SOG   SVS  SV%    GAA
Heather Rossi   1    0-0-0-1   23    18   0.783  5.00
Katie Vaughan   0    0-0-0-0   0     0    --     --

Other Games

In a possible preview of a game that might happen again in the not-too-distant future, Ellie Seedhouse's shootout winner gave Canada a 2-1 decision over Finland. Marieve Provost's goal with 1:29 left had forced overtime...Great Britain demolished Turkey 10-0.

Current Standings

     GP  W   OTW OTL L   PTS GF:GA
GBR  1   1   0   0   0   3   10:0
SVK  1   1   0   0   0   3    5:1
CAN  1   0   1   0   0   2    2:1 
FIN  1   0   0   1   0   1    1:2
USA  1   0   0   0   1   0    1:5
TUR  1   0   0   0   1   0    0:10

Upcoming Schedule

January 28th: USA-TUR 4:00 a.m., FIN-GBR 8:00 a.m., CAN-SVK 12:00 p.m.
January 30th: CAN-GBR 4:00 a.m., FIN-USA 8:00 a.m., TUR-SVK 12:00 p.m.

Men

The USA men, of course, don't start their tournament until 1:00 p.m. Eastern tomorrow against Kazakhstan.

Other Games

The Czech Republic added to a pretty rough day for the host country, trashing Turkey 16-0...Russia survived a superhuman effort from goaltender Yuta Narisawa (56 shots, 53 saves) and edged Japan 3-2 on Ayrat Ziazov's third period goal...Canada bombed Slovenia 9-0.

Current Standings

Group A

     GP  W   OTW OTL L   PTS GF:GA
CZE  1   1   0   0   0   3   16:0
RUS  1   1   0   0   0   3    3:2
JPN  1   0   0   0   1   0    2:3 
TUR  1   0   0   0   1   0    0:16

Group B

     GP  W   OTW OTL L   PTS GF:GA
CAN  1   1   0   0   0   3    9:0 
KOR  0   0   0   0   0   0    0:0
BLR  0   0   0   0   0   0    0:0
SLO  1   0   0   0   1   0    0:9

Group C

     GP  W   OTW OTL L   PTS GF:GA
SVK  0   0   0   0   0   0    0:0
KAZ  0   0   0   0   0   0    0:0
USA  0   0   0   0   0   0    0:0 
ESP  0   0   0   0   0   0    0:0

Upcoming Schedule

January 28th: KOR-BLR 5:00 a.m., ESP-SVK 9:00 a.m., KAZ-USA 1:00 p.m.
January 29th: RUS-CZE 5:00 a.m., JPN-TUR 9:00 a.m., CAN-BLR 1:00 p.m.
January 30th: KOR-SLO 5:00 a.m, SVK-USA 9:00 a.m., KAZ-ESP 1:00 p.m.

Women's World University Games Preview

USA Hockey is sending a team to compete on the women's side of the World University Games for the first time in 2011, and much like on the men's side, the ACHA will be supplying the players for the team - including four Penn Staters. They'll be coached by another, Lady Icers head coach Mo Stroemel, and will fight with five other countries for the gold medal.

The Team

Penn State fans should have an especially high degree of familiarity with the team's goaltending, as both Heather Rossi and Katie Vaughan ply their trade at the Ice Pavilion. In this case, familiarity definitely does not breed contempt, as the tandem has been the strength of the Lady Icers all season. You needn't go any further than Rossi's 48 saves on 51 shots in a huge 4-3 win at Rhode Island on October 23rd. Even in defeat, the pair shines - see Rossi's 50 saves and Vaughan's 40 saves in tight losses to No. 1 Lindenwood early this season for reference.

Rossi (left) and Vaughan (right). It's pretty safe to say that there are more rubber streaks on their home whites than I can count.

Vaughan told her hometown paper last month that she's excited for the trip for more than just the hockey.

"I love to travel and to go to new places," she said. "So I'm super excited to go to Turkey. I was told that if I go, there's a museum I have to see and I definitely hope we get to go to the hot springs."

In front of the two PSU goalies will be another Penn Stater, sophomore defender Lindsay Reihl. She's the youngest member of a highly-experienced backline that includes some of the ACHA's best, including Lindenwood's Shea Crawford, a second team All-American last season, teammate Nicole Konsdorf and Michigan State's Christina Young.

Defender Reihl, forward Rohlik, head coach Stroemel.

While the team has a distinctly defensive feel (in contrast to the men's side), they should be able to hold their own on the scoresheet as well. To that point, I present Robert Morris (IL)'s Ramey Weaver, who has a video game-like 33 goals and 72 points in 21 games played - both numbers are good enough to rank in the top three of women's Division 1 among teammates who, unfortunately, are Canadian. Michigan State's Charlotte Hoium (23 goals, 16 assists), Grand Valley State's Ashley Rumsey (24 goals, 14 assists) and Shelby Kucharski (21 goals, 13 assists) and Michigan's Emily Nelson (18 goals, 13 assists) also rank among the top ten scorers. Lady Icer Denise Rohlik adds depth to this group.

The Rest of the Field

Canada, Finland, United States, Slovakia, Great Britain and Turkey are the six teams competing in Erzurum.

Unlike on the men's side, the women's tournament is not split into pools. The six participating countries play a round robin schedule, after which the top four advance to the semifinals.

While this is the first year of US participation, women's hockey actually made its WUG debut in 2009 in Harbin, China. Team Canada defeated the hosts for the gold medal, while Finland took the bronze. With China not participating in this year's tournament, Canada has to be considered the clear favorite. I'll let Canadian Interuniversity Sport tell the story on our neighbors to the north.

Five players return from the 2009 championship squad including rearguards Carly Hill of McGill and Kelsey Webster of York, as well as forwards Andrea Ironside of Wilfrid Laurier, Mariève Provost of Moncton and Courtney Unruh of York.

Provost was one of Canada’s most prolific scorers two years ago finishing the seven-game tournament with four goals and three assists for seven points. Unruh tallied five points (4-1-5) including the game-winning goal in the title match against China.

“I like our mix of returning players and newcomers. It’s critical at the international level to have experience on your side, to have leadership in order to bring the team together in challenging situations,” [head coach Les] Lawton commented. “We think we have the best in CIS women’s hockey. That was our goal from day one.”

Defending the Canadian net will be a pair of fifth-year goaltenders, Brock’s Beth Clause and Laurier’s Liz Knox.

After Canada, Finland obviously has to be considered a contender as well. Team USA is sort of a wild card in the competition - the deficit between Canada, the US, and the rest of the world in women's hockey has been well documented, but will that apply here? My guess is that the Americans will represent well, and there's a great chance of the women finishing higher than the men, but I'm going to take a wait-and-see approach before I go penciling in a US-Canada gold medal game.

Konsdorf, for her part, told the Saginaw News that she's taking a measured, yet optimistic approach to expectations.

“[Our goal is] obviously, to win,” she said. “But to place in the bracket would be awesome.”

The Schedule

Full competition schedule here.

Here are Team USA's games, again, a nice reminder of why I love competitions on the other side of the world so much - the men get me at work, the women when I'm supposed to be sleeping.  

Group Play

Thursday, January 27 vs. Slovakia, 2:30 a.m.

Friday, January 28 vs. Turkey, 4:00 a.m.

Sunday, January 30 vs. Finland, 8:00 a.m.

Monday, January 31 vs. Slovakia, 4:00 a.m.

Wednesday, February 2 vs. Great Britain, 5:30 a.m.

Medal Round

Friday, February 4 - Semifinals

Saturday, February 5 - 5th place game/Gold and Bronze Medal games