Canadian U18 Roster Announced

On Friday, Team Canada U18 coach Melody Davidson announced the 20 players that comprise the Canadian U18 team that will compete at the inaugural World Women’s U18 Championships; it takes place January 7th-12th in Calgary, AB. Fifteen of the players were on the team that swept Team USA in a three game series in Ottawa, ON in August.

The team was selected based on evaluations that the Canadian coaching and scouting staff (Davidson, assistant coach Danielle Goyette and Jim Fetter, and the Hockey Canada scouting staff) made at the U19 Program evaluation camp in July, the U18 series against the USA, and the 2007 National Women’s Under-18 Championship in November. Canada, the USA, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Switzerland, Russia and the Czech Republic are the participating teams.

Goalies

1 Delayne Brian L 5'8 170 07/24/1990 Winnipeg, MB Notre Dame Hounds /SFMAAAHL
25 Amanda Mazzotta L 5'5 145 03/20/1990 London, ON London Devilettes /PWHL

Defense

2 Samantha Watt R 5'9 160 01/24/1990 Cremona, AB Calgary Oval X-Treme /WWHL
3 Tara Watchorn L 5'10 154 05/30/1990 Newcastle, ON Durham West Lightning /PWHL
4 Lauriane Rougeau L 5'8 160 04/12/1990 Beaconsfield, QC Cheminots St-Jérôme /Collégial AA
5 Brittany Haverstock L/ 5'6 150 05/03/1990 Hammonds Plains, NS Stoney Creek Sabres/PWHL
8 Rebecca Hewett L/ 5'6 143 09/19/1990 Oak Bluff, MB Assiniboine Park Rangers/Midget AAA
23 Laura Fortino L/ 5'6 135 01/30/1991 Hamilton, ON Stoney Creek Sabres /PWHL

Forwards

6 Jessica Jones L/ 5'4 135 08/30/1990 Picton, ON Whitby Wolves /PWHL
7 Leslie Oles L/ 5'4 140 11/18/1990 Beaconsfield, QC, Montreal Stars /CWHL
10 Marie-Philip Poulin L/ 5'6 142 03/28/1991 Beauceville, QC Montreal Stars /CWHL
11 Brianne Jenner R/ 5'9 158 05/04/1991 St. Catharines, ON Stoney Creek Sabres/PWHL
14 Carolyne Prevost L/ 5'4 135 01/06/1990 Sarnia, ON London Devilettes/PWHL
15 Bailey Bram L/ 5'9 140 09/05/1990 Ste-Anne, MB Balmoral Hall Blazers /Midget AAA
16 Chelsea Karpenko R/ 5'6 146 04/27/1990 Winnipeg, MB Notre Dame Hounds /SFMAAAHL
17 Laura McIntosh L/ 5'4 140 01/21/1990 Waterloo, ON Mississauga Chiefs/PWHL
18 Camille Dumais L/ 5'8 145 08/15/1990 Beaconsfield, QC Blues Dawson /Collégial AA
19 Catherine White L/ 5'9 145 02/05/1990 Brampton, ON Mississauga Chiefs/PWHL
21 Audrey Bélanger-Cournoyer L/ 5'3 135 09/10/1990 Montréal, QC Cheminots St-Jérôme /Midget AA
22 Natalie Spooner R/ 5'10 165 10/17/1990 Scarborough, ON Durham West Lightning /PWHL

Coaches

Melody Davidson, Head Coach, Oyen, AB Hockey Canada
Danielle Goyette, Assistant Coach, St-Nazaire, QC University of Calgary/CIS
Jim Fetter, Assistant Coach, Waterloo, ON Wayne St. University/CHA

Players of the Week Announced

The CHA has named Mercyhurst teammates sophomore forward Meghan Agosta and freshman forward Jessie Scanzano and Robert Morris sophomore rearguard Jacki Gibson the offensive, rookie, and defensive players of the week. Agosta netted two consecutive goals as Mercyhurst beat New Hampshire 4-3 on Friday. One of them gave the Lakers a 2-0 lead. In the same game, Scanzano added an assist on the first goal and was a +2.

In Saturday’s 5-2 loss to the Wildcats, Agosta banged home the first goal of the game as Mercyhurst enjoyed the man advantage, while Scanzano’s power-play goal gave Mercyhurst a 2-0 lead.

Gibson scored a goal in every game versus RIT and was an instrumental part of the Colonials’ penalty killing unit as they limited RIT to two power-play goals in 12 chances. Friday’s goal made the game a 1-1 tie, and Saturday’s gave Robert Morris a 3-2 lead. She was a +1 this past weekend as the Colonials held the Tigers to 36 shots on goal in two games.

In the ECAC, St. Lawrence junior forward Marianna Locke, Yale Freshman forward Bray Ketchum, and Colgate freshman Lisa Plenderleith received the player, rookie, and goalie of the week awards. Locke’s five points this past weekend helped lead St. Lawrence to a sweep over Maine. Two of her goals were game-winners. The two goals and two assists on Saturday tied a season high game point total for her. She was named the first star of the game on Friday and the second on Saturday.

Ketchum’s two third period goals on Saturday helped the Bulldogs tie Brown. The two goals came on just three shots and moves her into a tie for the team lead with five. She is 14th in NCAA DI rookie scoring with ten points (5G, 5A) in 12 games. This is her second rookie of the week award this season.

Plenderleith went 2-0 on the weekend with a 0.50 GAA, and a 0.984 SAV % when she made 60 saves over Niagara. Saturday’s win was her first career shutout.

Hockey East awarded Boston University sophomore forward Jonnie Bloemers the player of the week award, while the defensive player of the week was shared by a pair of goalies with Connecticut sophomore Jennie Bellonio and Maine freshman Sarah Bishop receiving the honors. Northeastern freshman goalie Leah Sulma received the rookie of the week award.

Bloemers scored three goals last week as BU beat Boston College and Sacred Heart last week. One of her goals was the overtime winner last Thursday in BU’s 3-2 victory against BC with 2:17 left in the extra frame.

Bellonio’s 40 saves in Connecticut’s 2-0 loss to Harvard was a career high for her. Thirty of those saves came over the first two periods (15 each). Bishop stopped 52 of 54 shots against St. Lawrence on Friday with 26 of them coming in the second period.

A pair of European players from Finland and teammates with Minnesota-Duluth have captured the offensive and defensive player of the week awards in the WCHA as sophomore forward Saara Tuominen and sophomore defenseman Heidi Pelttari were instrumental in UMD’s sweep of Ohio State last weekend.

Tuominen netted two goals and two assists in the sweep with one goal and one assist coming on Saturday in the 7-2 win, and the other goal coming on Sunday as the Bulldogs won 4-0. She is her team’s leader in scoring with 27 points which puts her 10th in the NCAA and first in the WCHA.

Pelttari had four points in the series last weekend with three of the coming on Saturday with consecutive goals and one assist. The other point, an assist, came in the 4-0 shutout on Sunday. Pelttari was a +5 over the two game period. She leads the UMD defensive corps in scoring with 12 points (3G, 9A).

The fact that two Europeans have won the weekly awards bodes well for the future of women’s hockey as the sport is still currently a two country race despite the fact that the Swedes beat the Americans at the 2006 Olympics, and the development of European players in the NCAA might save the sport from the Olympic bubble.

The rookie of the week award goes to St. Cloud State goalie Ashley Nixon. Nixon netted her third career win on Sunday when the Huskies beat Bemidji State 4-1 in Bemidji, MN. She backstopped her team with 34 saves over the course of 57:36 allowing the Beavers just one goal. Nixon is now 3-1-1 overall this season. The sweep last weekend was St. Cloud’s first this season.

Games This Week

Yale kicked off the week by beating non-conference opponent Providence 2-1 on Thursday night, while Hockey East conference play began with an all Boston affair as Boston University edged Boston College 3-2.

Non-conference Weekend Results

Robert Morris kicked off non-conference play on Friday afternoon with a 2-1 win over RIT. The evening action saw Colgate nip Niagara 2-1, Mercyhurst get by New Hampshire 4-3, Princeton shut the door on Union 7-0, St. Lawrence blank Maine 2-0, and Harvard shutout Connecticut 2-0.

On Saturday, New Hampshire finished their visit to Mercyhurst by gaining a split in their series with a 5-2 win, Colgate swept Niagara with a 3-0 blanking, Robert Morris also swept RIT by winning 4-3, St. Lawrence took out the brooms to Maine with a 9-1 shellacking, Harvard beat Providence 4-1, and Boston University pounded Sacred Heart 11-1.

Conference Weekend Results

The lone ECAC game on Friday saw Rensselaer edge Quinnipiac 2-1.

In WCHA action, Minnesota blanked Minnesota State 6-0.

Union and Quinnipiac played to a scoreless overtime tie, and Princeton shutout Rensselaer 3-0 in the two ECAC games on Saturday afternoon.

In Hockey East action, it was another all Boston affair that featured Northeastern over Boston 3-1.

It was St. Cloud State 1 - Bemidji State 0, Wisconsin 3 - North Dakota 2, Minnesota finishing their series sweep of Minnesota State with a 1-0 win, and Minnesota-Duluth 7 - Ohio State 2 in the WCHA.

ECAC action concluded Sunday with Brown and Yale playing to a 2-2 overtime tie while the three WCHA games had St. Cloud State sweeping Bemidji State with a 4-1 win, Wisconsin shutting out North Dakota 4-0, and Minnesota Duluth beating Ohio State by the same score.

The Leaders

With eight conference points (4-0-0) and their 13-3-2 overall record, Mercyhurst is the top team in the CHA once again this week. Given that, it is no surprise that Agosta is the conference and overall top point getter with eight goals and four assists in the conference and 22 goals and 14 assists overall.

As in previous weeks, Hosier leads all netminders in both categories (conference and overall) with a conference record of 3-0-0, a 0.33 GAA, and a 0.983 save percentage. She is 9-3-1, with a goals-against-average of 1.89, and a 0.922 SAV % overall.

Harvard is atop the ECAC standings both conference and overall with nine wins, no losses, and no ties conference wise and an 11-0-0 record overall.

Dartmouth sophomore forward Jenna Cunningham is the leader among conference scorers with eight goals and 13 assists, while St. Lawrence senior forward Sabrina Harbec is the overall leader with eight goals and 21 assists.

Between the pipes, Harvard sophomore Christina Kessler is tops in the conference as she is perfect, boasting a 8-0-0 record to go along with her 1.00 GAA, and 1.000 save percentage. Her 10-0-0 record, 0.90 GAA, and 0.958 SAV % gives here the nod as the top goalie in overall ECAC play as well.

New Hampshire sits on top of the Hockey East standings as they are 9-0-0. They also top the Hockey East overall standings with their 16-3-0 record as well.

With Hockey East at the top of the conference, junior forward Sam Faber leads all scorers in conference and overall play with seven goals and 11 assists conference side and 12 goals and 15 assists overall.

Faber’s teammate freshman Kayley Herman is the top puck-stopper with eight wins, zero losses, and zero ties. She also has a 0.99 goals-against-average to go along with her 0.931 save percentage. For her 14-2-0 record, 1.26 GAA, and 0.875 SAV %, she is also the top goalie in overall play as well.

With only three losses this season against 13 wins, Minnesota-Duluth tops all WCHA teams in conference standings. They have the best record in overall play as well as they have gone 14-3-1.

Tuominen leads both the conference (10G, 15A) and overall (10G, 17A) scoring race, while teammate sophomore goalie Kim Martin (11-3-1, 1.31 GAA, 0.812 SAV %)) leads the overall and conference (10-3-0, 1.38 GAA, 0.953 SAV %) goalie statistics.

Harvard Tops Both USA Hockey/USA Today and USCHO.COM Weekly Polls

This past weekend, Harvard was named the top team in both the USA Hockey/USA Today and uscho.com weekly polls. They received 12 of 19 first place votes in the USA Hockey/USA Today poll and 10 of 15 in the uscho.com one.

In the uscho.com poll, New Hampshire received the remaining five first place votes to finish second.

New Hampshire received four first place votes to finish second, while Minnesota-Duluth received the remaining three first place votes to finish third.

USA Today/USA Hockey Poll #12

1) Harvard University, 177 (12)
2) University of New Hampshire, 171 (4)
3) University of Minnesota Duluth, 157 (3)
4) St. Lawrence University, 122 (4)
5) Mercyhurst College, 111 (6)
6) University of Minnesota, 110 (5)
7) University of Wisconsin, 75 (7)
8) Dartmouth College, 55 (8)
9) University of Connecticut, 29 (10)
10) St. Cloud State University, 19 NR

Clarkson University, 15; Boston University, 2; and Ohio State University, 2 also received votes.

USCHO .com Division I Poll

1) Harvard (10)
2) New Hampshire (5)
3) Minnesota Duluth
4) St. Lawrence
5) Minnesota
6) Mercyhurst
7) Wisconsin
8) Dartmouth
9) Connecticut
10) St. Cloud State

Clarkson 8, Boston College 3, and Princeton 1 were also considered.

Games To Come

This weekend’s play will be the last until after the Christmas break. With last weekend’s play being all-conference, this weekend is the complete opposite with the action taking place outside the various conferences.

On Friday, the Toronto Jr. Aeros are at Union for an exhibition game, UMD is at St. Lawrence, and New Hampshire hosts Harvard.

Saturday’s action will see Dartmouth take on Mercyhurst at home, Union complete their exhibition series with the Toronto Jr. Aeros at home, and UMD complete their series at St. Lawrence.

There is only one game on Sunday, and that will be the second game in the Dartmouth-Mercyhurst series.