News Roundup 3/28/24
The women’s college hockey season has come to a close. European hockey continues to race towards the finish, and the NHL races towards the playoffs. A lot is going on right now, it’s the most fun and hectic part of the year. So, here’s your recap of what happened this past week in the world of hockey.
Ohio State Wins Women’s Hockey National Championship
Congratulations to the Ohio State Buckeyes for winning the NCAA Division 1 Women’s Ice Hockey National Championship. Last year, they lost to Wisconsin by a score of 1-0. This year, they defeated Wisconsin, 1-0. Joy Dunne was the one to score the game-winner, 52:48 into regulation. Hannah Bilka and Cayla Barnes had the assists. Raygan Kirk made 26 saves to get the shutout win. Now, since the semifinals weren’t covered in last week’s roundup due to being played on Friday, here’s a quick recap of those games:
Ohio State defeated Clarkson, 4-1. Clarkson’s sole goal was the first goal of the match, with Anne Cherkowski being the one to do it. Makenna Webster was the sole player with multiple points in the match, being the one to tie the game up, and getting a secondary assist on the second Buckeye goal.
Wisconsin defeated Colgate, 3-1. Kristýna Kaltounková scored the sole Colgate goal, late in the third period. Laila Edwards (1G, 1A) and Casey O'Brien (2A) both had multiple points for Wisconsin.
Rangers First to Clinch NHL Playoff Spot
The Stanley Cup Playoffs are quickly approaching, and the first team to clinch a playoff spot is the New York Rangers. Not going to lie, I am surprised by that one, but well-earned. They have been quite dominant this season, led by Artemi Panarin who has just had his first 100-point season of his career. That, and having Jonathan Quick turn the clocks back five years helped a lot too, especially earlier in the season when Shesterkin was struggling. The Boston Bruins had a chance to clinch a playoff spot last night (as of publishing) but lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Bruins, Panthers, Hurricanes, Stars, Canucks, and Avalanche all have the chance to clinch playoff spots as early as tonight.
European Hockey Updates
Starting in the EIHL, the regular season continues, but congrats to the Sheffield Steelers for winning the league title on Sunday, after defeating the Guildford Flames. With this win, they secured a spot in the Champions League next season. Meanwhile, the Manchester Storm secured a spot in the playoffs on the same day, and then yesterday, the Belfast defeated the Cardiff Devils (currently in second place) to keep the race for second place alive. Moving on to Russia, we now know two of the four teams that will face off in the semifinals. Traktor, the lowest remaining ranked team, swept Dynamo Moscow while Avtomobilist defeated SKA in just five games. The playoffs continue to have rather shocking results, and it’s going to be thrilling to see how this ends. In Denmark, Esbjerg Energy was the last team to secure a semifinal spot and is facing off against regular season champions: Aalborg Pirates. Finally, in Sweden, we know two of the teams who will be in the semifinals: Rögle (who swept Färjestad) and Växjö (who swept Luleå). On an interesting note, in two days (Monday and Tuesday) we saw two matches last rather long times. Rögle needed 108 minutes to defeat Färjestad, 3-2. On the very next night, it took 116 minutes for Skellefteå to defeat Linköping, 4-3.
Quick Bites
Frederik Andersen, Carolina Hurricanes goaltender, since returning from blood clotting (missed 50 games), has been phenomenal. Since his return, he’s won all six games, one being a shutout (against Florida on March 14). His worst performance since the return was against Calgary, where he had a .900 save percentage, and allowed two goals.
Tom Wilson, Washington Capitals forward, to no one’s surprise, is in trouble again. This time, he got suspended for six games, as of last Friday. He decided to use his stick like a baseball bat and whacked Toronto Maple Leafs forward, Noah Gregor, in the head. Personally, I think six games is too lenient considering Wilson’s history, but, I’m also surprised he even got that many games.
Colorado Avalanche goaltender, Justus Annunen, signed a two-year contract extension with the Avalanche, the amount of money is not known. His current contract lasted only through the remainder of this season.
Josh Doan, son of Arizona Coyotes legend, Shane Doan, had his NHL debut on Tuesday, playing for who else but the Coyotes. He was drafted 37th overall in the 2021 draft by the Coyotes, has been leading the Tucson Roadrunners of the AHL in points, and is third in rookie scoring in that league. He is also the first Arizona-born player to train in that state and play for the Coyotes. In that game, he became the first to score two goals in his debut with the Coyotes.
In that game on Tuesday, Josh Doan wasn’t the only player to make his NHL debut. James Malatesta of the Columbus Blue Jackets also made his debut, replacing Alex Nylander, who was out with an illness.
Some rather horrifying news came out last Saturday from Florida. Former New England College hockey players, Meghan Moore and Sidney Capolino were murdered by 40-year-old Luis Napoles. After murdering them, Napoles would commit suicide. Reports say Napoles was once an acquaintance of Moore and became obsessed with her, stalking her.
The PWHL is going into a break, and going into it, there are fifteen games left in the regular season. With that few left, Toronto is the league leader (36 points) and one point away from clinching a playoff spot. Minnesota has 35 points and can clinch a spot as well (with a regulation win). Montreal has 31 points, Ottawa has 27, Boston has 22, and finally, New York has 20.
Speaking of New York, PWHL New York snapped their seven-game losing streak on Monday, defeating Boston, 3-2. Jade Downie-Landry had a hand in all three goals for New York, scoring two of them herself.
The final piece of PWHL news: last Friday, two disciplinary actions were handed down. Toronto defender Jocelyne Larocque was suspended one game for cross-checking Boston’s Miller in the head. Meanwhile, Ottawa forward Tereza Vanišová was fined $250 for boarding New York’s Roque.
Over in Europe, some big changes were made in the KHL. Avangard fired head coach Mikhail Kravets, in the middle of a playoff series against Lokomotiv, after losing a game by a score of 7-0. That wasn’t the only big coaching move made. Zinetula Bilyaletdinov, legendary long-time coach of Ak Bars, will not be returning. In the KHL era, he won three Gagarin Cups and, as the head coach of the Russian national team, won a World Championship gold in 2012.
Joseph Jonsson, one of the best players in Metal Ligaen, has announced his departure from the Herlev Eagles. It’s expected he will be joining a better league.
Sticking in Metal Ligaen, Frederikshavn, coming off a historically bad season, is making moves to ensure that doesn’t happen again. They are hoping to be able to raise the player budget by two million.
In Sweden, Skellefteå goaltender Linus Söderström signed a one-year contract extension with the club. This is a big move for Skellefteå, as in the two seasons he’s played in the SHL, he has been one of the league’s better goaltenders, even winning Swedish Goaltender of the Year honors last season.
Finally, we take a look at ongoing IIHF tournaments. We have Group B of Division 3 in women’s hockey playing each other right now, and with only one day left in round preliminary matches, Thailand leads the standings with nine points, Estonia has five points, and with only two games played, Israel has three points, Singapore has one point, and Bosnia and Herzegovina have zero points.
Men’s U18 Division 2 Group B play finished just last Friday. China won all five games and ended with 15 points. Spain placed second with 10, Bulgaria had 8, Australia had 7, Chinese Taipei had 5, and at the bottom was Israel with 0. China has been promoted to Division 2 Group A, while Israel has been demoted to Division 3 Group A.
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