News Roundup 04/14/25

Women’s World Championship

The IIHF Women’s World Championship is underway. As of writing, the preliminary round is still underway but is on its final day. So, here’s where everything stands currently. The USA is leading Group A with nine points. They dispatched Finland (7-1) and Czechia (4-0) rather easily before taking on their first real challenge: Canada. It was a hard-fought win, but the USA did win: 2-1. Speaking of Canada, they are second in Group A, having beaten Finland (5-0) and Switzerland (4-0). Finland is third having beaten Czechia, 4-2. Czechia is fourth, having beaten Switzerland, 3-0. If you haven’t guessed yet, Switzerland is at the bottom of Group A.

Moving on to Group B, Sweden is the top team. They dispatched the #2 team, Germany, 5-2 in the tournament’s opening match. After that they went on to beat Hungary (2-0) and Japan (2-0). As stated previously, Germany is the second-ranked team in Group B, having beaten Norway (5-2) and Hungary (4-1). Japan is third with wins over Norway (5-2) and Hungary (2-0). Norway is fourth with a win over Hungary, 3-0. Hungary is at the bottom of Group B.

Tomorrow, April 15, is the final day of preliminary action. Elimination games begin on April 17.

The MAC Takes Over Hockey

As an American Midwesterner who is a fan of a MAC school (U of Toledo, we'll fight for you), I can confirm that there is nothing quite like MACtion. Unfortunately, NCAA ice hockey does not have a MAC conference. That said, some traditional MAC schools do have ice hockey teams in the NCAA. One of them is Western Michigan (they play in the NCHC in hockey) which just won their first national championship, beating Boston University. It was a beatdown that ended in a 6-2 Broncos victory. They are the second traditional MAC school to win the championship in hockey, the first being Bowling Green State University in 1984.

Alex Ovechkin isn’t the only professional hockey player to be breaking goal-scoring records as of late, Jaromír Jágr is too, having scored 1,099, the most all-time in professional hockey history…The hockey season has just begun in Australia, and it’s starting with a bang: Brisbane Lightning goaltender Jakob Doornbos made 58 saves in a 2-1 win over the Melbourne Ice…The Belfast Giants in the EIHL clinched the EIHL title in a 4-3 overtime win over the Nottingham Panthers…Speaking of the EIHL, the semifinals are about to begin and the matchups are: Belfast vs. Cardiff and Sheffield vs. Nottingham…In the KHL, the quarterfinals are underway, both Western Conference series tied at 1 game each (Lokomotiv vs. Avangard and Salavat Yulaev vs. Spartak) while in the Eastern Conference, Traktor is up 1-0 over Dinamo Minsk and Ak Bars are up 1-0 over Dynamo Moscow…In the Metal Ligaen, the finals and bronze medal matches are set. For the championship, it will be the Herning Blue Fox facing off against the Odense Bulldogs while for the bronze medal, it will be Rungsted Seier vs. Aalborg Pirates…In the ECHL, Brandon Hawkins of the Toledo Walleye became the third player in league history to lead the league in scoring in consecutive years (89P, 37G, 52A)…Also in the ECHL, the South Carolina Stingrays clinched the Brabham Cup (the ECHL’s equivalent to the President’s Trophy) with 107 points after ending the season on a 16-game win streak. This is the second time in franchise history they won the Brabham Cup, the first time being in the 1996-97 season, finishing with 100 points…In the PWHL, the Ottawa Charge activated forward Kateřina Mrázová from LTIR…Meanwhile, the Montréal Victoire activated goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens from LTIR…In NHL news, former NHL general manager Ray Shero died at age 62…Colorado Avalanche captain, Gabriel Landeskog, is back on the ice, currently on a conditioning assignment with the Colorado Eagles in the AHL…2021 first-round draft pick by the Winnipeg Jets, Chaz Lucius, has retired from hockey after being diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome.

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