News Roundup 04/21/25
USA Wins Women’s World Championship
The 2025 Women’s World Championship is over and it’s the USA who skated away with the gold medal. They beat Canada, 4-3, in overtime to do so. Tessa Janecke scored the game-winner 17:06 into overtime, making it the longest game in Women’s World history.
The USA and Canada weren’t the only teams to get medals that day. Finland did too, earning the bronze medal after defeating Czechia 4-3. in overtime. It was a well-earned win, too, as Finland was down 3-0 halfway through regulation. The game-tying goal came with 93 seconds left in regulation. In overtime, it was Jenniina Nylund who scored the game-winner.
Outside the medal winning, Canadian captain Marie-Philip Poulin won the MVP award for the tournament. It was well-deserved as she not only led the tournament in points (12) but also became Canada’s top scorer in Women’s World Championship tournaments. She overcame Hayley Wickenheiser, who had 86 points. Poulin now has 89.
This wasn’t the only IIHF tournament that was going on. Here’s what to know about the others:
Women’s World Championship, Division 1 - Group A: For the very first time in history, Austria has been promoted to the top division. Denmark will join them in getting promoted, as the Danes won the silver medal. Slovakia won the bronze medal.
Women’s World Championship, Division 1 - Group B: Italy will be getting promoted to Division 1 - Group A after getting a tournament-long shutout. That’s right. They didn’t allow a single goal against them in the entire tournament. Five straight games, no goals against. Meanwhile, they scored 31 goals. Latvia, meanwhile, won silver, while Great Britain finished third.
Women’s World Championship, Division 2 - Group B: Here it was Australia who earned the gold medal, powered by goaltender Sasha King. Want to know how impressive King was? She had a 0.79 goals against average and a 95.24 save percentage. Now, they will be promoted to Division 2 - Group A. Finishing second was New Zealand and third was Ukraine.
U18 World Championship, Division 1 - Group B: For the second straight year, Poland will be promoted. They won the gold medal in just four games. Lithuania won silver while Korea won the bronze.
World Championship, Division IV: Uzbekistan has never participated in a IIHF event before. Even with having literally no experience, they won gold in Division IV. Now, they will be promoted to Division III - Group B. Armenia was second while Kuwait was third.
Champions Crowned Across Europe
Across Europe, Championship season is well underway. This past week, several more leagues crowned champions. The first was Storhamar in the EHL (Norway’s top league). They won 12 straight playoff games, including sweeping Stavanger Oilers in the finals. They are the first team in league history to go undefeated in a four-round playoff series.
Next up is EK Die Zeller Eisbären in the Alps Hockey League. This was their first championship title and the first time an Austrian team won the championship. They beat SIJ Acroni Jesenice in five games.
Finally, over in the EIHL, (the UK’s top league) the Nottingham Panthers beat the Cardiff Devils, 4-3, in double overtime to clinch the playoff championship. Mitch Fossier scored the game-winner 92:15 into the match. It was a valiant effort by the Devils who came back after being down 3-0. They didn’t score their first goal until there was just 1:07 left in the second period.
Presumed #1 overall pick in the 2026 NHL draft, Gavin McKenna, scored a Michigan goal against the Prince Albert Raiders last Wednesday…The 2025 PWHL draft will be hosted in Ottawa on June 24…Two regular season PWHL games have changed dates. The first was the Sirens and Frost match on April 26. It is now April 27 at 2 pm EDT. The second is the Victoire and Sirens match on May 2. It is now May 3 at 2 EDT…Jacob MacDonald of the Colorado Eagles in the AHL set the AHL record for most goals scored by a defender in a season with 30…The AHL’s Calder Cup Playoffs will begin on April 23…Sloan Stanick of the Tahoe Knight Monsters was named the ECHL’s Rookie of the Year…Brandon Hawkins of the Toledo Walleye was named ECHL MVP for the second straight season (the second in league history to do so)…Tahoe’s Jett Jones set an ECHL playoff record by becoming the first player to score four times in a single game in a win over the Wichita Thunder…The Winnipeg Jets won their first President’s Trophy in franchise history and are the first Canadian team to win it since the 2011-12 season…Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning has clinched his third Art Ross Trophy (awarded to the league’s top scorer)…The Anaheim Ducks fired head coach Greg Cronin a year before his contract was up…The New York Rangers fired head coach Peter Laviolette and assistant coach Phil Housley.
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