CANTLON: WOMEN’S TEAM USA UPENDS CANADA AT XL CENTER, 4-1 

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

HARTFORD, CT – Team USA entertained a exceptionally boisterous crowd of 7,126 at the XL Center with a 4-1 victory over Team Canada in Game 1 of the first game in the Rivalry Series. Amanda Kessel and Alex Carpenter each had a goal and an assist while goaltender Alex Cavallini had 31 saves.

The second game between these international rivals comes on Tuesday, December 17th, in Moncton, New Brunswick at 7:30 PM AST at the Avenir Centre, the home of the QMJHL’s Moncton Wildcats. The game will be broadcast live on the NHL Network.

These two titans of women’s international hockey squared off in a game worthy of any championship series.

“I want to thank all the fans tonight,” Kessel said. “They were the seventh player for us tonight.”

Team USA was deeply disappointed in their performance in Pittsburgh two weeks ago in a pair of exhibition game losses to Canada. They were determined to correct their play.

“Pittsburgh wasn’t not acceptable at all,“ Hilary Knight stated. “We needed to get better in everything. We let our let our fans down. We let ourselves down. We felt an obligation to play a better hockey game and we did.”

Kessel echoed those comments. “We were very disappointed after Pittsburgh. It was a little bit of everything that was missing. It was extra hard work. We had a chip on our shoulder and something to prove.”

The US left the pre-game skate early as seven Canadians stayed out for almost seven minutes afterward.

Team USA managed to break the game open with two goals in the first five minutes of the third period.

Abby Roque won a draw from Canada’s Victoria Bach and got it back to Lee Stecklein at left point. Stecklein’s shot was blocked, but the puck came to Roque who was on then left wing. She protected the puck and was able to deftly lift a backhand shot top shelf to the short-side past Canadian netminder Genevieve Lacasse at 2:49.

Roque’s goal came in her Team USA debut leaving her with a smile that could be seen from Maine to California. Roque hails from Sault Ste. Marie, MI which sits just on the US-Canadian border with half of the town on the side of the land of the maple leaf.

“It was a lot of fun. It’s one of the greatest rivalries in the world to compete (in) and to win this game, has been really special. Its something I will never forget, especially in my debut.”

Her teammates were just as excited for her goal.

“That was a big goal and a great way to start. We never worry whose gonna pot it for us. Abby’s goal gave us the confidence,” said Knight.

Carpenter followed aided by some puck luck, that came as a result of hard work.

Cayla Barnes’ shot from the right point shot saw Kessel attempt to redirect it from up high, but the puck went instead to Kelly Pannek who made a blind backhand pass that went off the skate of Canadian defender Micah Zander-Hart over to Carpenter. She moved quickly to put it into the back of the net at 4:04, expanding the US a lead to 4-1, which would prove to be the final goal of the contest.

Cavallini had an exceptional second period in net to hold off Team Canada stopping a Victoria Bach rising wrist shot then denying a point-blank shot by Meghan Agosta and then a grade A chance from Marie-Philip Poulin.

“She was excellent tonight. She made several point blank stops. She was in position and didn’t breakdown. She didn’t give up rebounds. It was nice to see her have a good game,” US head coach Bob Corkum remarked.

Kessel admired her teammate’s contribution to the win.

“She made it look easy out there. She was the difference all night.”

Team USA apparently had taken the lead at 15:27 with a short-side goal by Kacey Bellamy, but it was negated after the shot went off Lacasse’s blocker pad and her stick hit the side of the net and slid down lodging itself under the white plastic part that surrounds the bottom netting. It looked like Bellamy had put it in on the short-side, but it appeared to be the correct call and there was no video review being utilized for the game to check it one way or the other.

The US women kept their composure and shortly afterwards got a power-play goal as a result of one of several net front skirmishes. Barnes and Emily Clark of Canada wrestled in front with an extra two going to Canada’s Melodie Daoust for the extra few shots she took.

Seconds into the advantage Cavallini stopped Clark’s backhanded attempt on a shorthanded semi-breakaway to keep the game tied.

Canada’s Meaghan Mikkelson was hit with an interference minor while the team was already killing a penalty creating a five-on-three power-play for the US.

The US wasted little time in breaking the deadlock. All five players touched the puck and it all started with a clean face-off win by Kelly Pannek.

Kessel kept possession after Knight’s pass was tipped. Kessel got is back to her. Knight zipped the pass to Megan Keller, who sent it to Carpenter below the goal line. Carpenter quickly passed it to Pannek who in turn sent it to Kessel, who was alone at the left side of the net. She rammed the puck in for the 2-1 lead with 1:08 left in the period.

“We have played together and when we got back together at camp. We felt very comfortable and we have gotten to know where each other were,” commented Carpenter.

A slow start to the game, but the special teams made a difference for each side in getting their first goal.

Canada tallied as Victoria Bach in the left wing circle as a left-handed shot on the right wing took a short pass from the right point from Jaime Bourbonnais. She unleashed a high wrist shot from the face-off circle over Cavallini’s glove hand at 6:45.

“We had a good start, but we have to eliminate our turnovers. We got two days to regroup and we knew they weren’t happy in Pittsburgh and were going to come out hard against us,” said Bach.

The USA answered back as the first skirmish of the game gave the US a power-play.

Keller pinched in perfectly and was alone at the left side of the net. Annie Panowksi came with a full head of steam and got behind the Canadian defender, Lorraine Rougeau. Just before she was going to go behind the goal, she slipped a perfect pass right on her stick for an easy redirect at 8:51 to even the game at one.

NOTES:

The other three games in the series will be played out West with two being played in Canada. Monday February 3rd at 7 PM PST the teams get together in Victoria at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre, the home of the WHL Victoria Royals. Two days later they knock heads again but in Vancouver at the Rogers Arena, the home of the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks.

The series concludes in Anaheim, California at the Honda Center, the home of the NHL’s Anaheim Ducks, on Saturday, February 8th, at 7pm PST.

Canada won last year’s inaugural three-game set in the Rivalry Series, two-games-to-one.

The US won the first meeting on the strength of Knight’s goal and 33 save effort from Cavallini in London, Ontario. The Canadians tied the series in Toronto, 4-3 and then won the third game by shutout, 2-0 in Detroit.

Former Team USA player, and Choate graduate, Angela Ruggiero, joined a group of eight former players to drop the ceremonial pucks before the game.

Photo Credits to Gerry Cantlon