(above) Canadian goalkeeper Kim St. Pierre, right, covers the puck as Kelli Stack of the USA pressures the goal at Magness Arena on the University of Denver Campus campus SaturdayFrom: Google News
by Pat Graham
With two months to go before the Vancouver Games, U.S.A. Coach Mark Johnson is still trying to find the right mix.
The U.S. women's coach tweaked his lineup in a 4-2 exhibition loss to Canada on Saturday night, and the new combinations got off to a sluggish start before breaking through in the final period.
"Other than the score, I thought we're making progress," Johnson said.
The Americans rolled out retooled line combinations and played longtime forward Julie Chu on defense. All part of the plan to be better 60 days from now.
"Nobody's giving out report cards or medals in December," said USA Hockey executive director Dave Ogrean, who was in attendance at the University of Denver's Magness Arena. "This is all part of the process of getting ready for Feb. 14 and beyond."
Marie-Philip Poulin and Caroline Ouellette scored 58 seconds apart in the second period, helping the Canadians beat their top rival for the fourth time in five games.
Gina Kingsbury and Meghan Agosta also scored for the Canadians, and Kim St. Pierre stopped 27 shots.
"I think we're on a good roll," Canadian forward Hayley Wickenheiser said. "We've been playing well and training pretty hard. It's given us a good competitive edge that way."
Canada jumped out to an early lead against an American squad that initially appeared out of sync.
"We got up 3-0, but the U.S. didn't back down," Canada coach Melody Davidson said. "Full credit to them. They made us earn that win for sure."
Canada and the United States, heavy favorites in Vancouver, will play again Tuesday night in Calgary.
Two days later, the United States will trim its roster by two to 21 players.
It's making for some anxious players.
"I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a concern," said Hilary Knight, who had one of the U.S goals. "It's definitely in the back of your head. You do as much as you can not to think about it. It will weigh you down if you think about cuts and losing two of your best friends, family members."
Johnson knows he has some tough decisions in the next week. And this may have been the last chance to make a final impression.
"We tweaked things around the last three weeks, to give everyone a real fair opportunity in regards to making the final 21," Johnson said. "Tonight, was no different."
Outside of third-period goals from Knight and Karen Thatcher, the Americans couldn't solve St. Pierre. She made one sprawling save after another.
"Like any other goaltender, you have to find their weaknesses," said Knight, who leads the team with nine goals this season. "She played great tonight. They're good contenders — always a fun game when we play them."
That's why it's such an entertaining rivalry.
"I think it's a terrific rivalry and one of the best there is for the sport," Davidson said. "But it's a healthy one."
Ogrean couldn't agree more. It's setting up for good theater in Vancouver.
"I think each country has two really good goaltenders and two really good coaches," Ogrean said. "We're going to go into Canada, perhaps the advantage to them because they're home. We know when we go into the Olympic building, 95 percent of the audience or more is going to be wearing a red-and-white jersey and cheering for Canada. That is both a wind in their sails but also a weight on their shoulders. We'll be going up there with one goal — ready to play."
The U.S. women's coach tweaked his lineup in a 4-2 exhibition loss to Canada on Saturday night, and the new combinations got off to a sluggish start before breaking through in the final period.
"Other than the score, I thought we're making progress," Johnson said.
The Americans rolled out retooled line combinations and played longtime forward Julie Chu on defense. All part of the plan to be better 60 days from now.
"Nobody's giving out report cards or medals in December," said USA Hockey executive director Dave Ogrean, who was in attendance at the University of Denver's Magness Arena. "This is all part of the process of getting ready for Feb. 14 and beyond."
Marie-Philip Poulin and Caroline Ouellette scored 58 seconds apart in the second period, helping the Canadians beat their top rival for the fourth time in five games.
Gina Kingsbury and Meghan Agosta also scored for the Canadians, and Kim St. Pierre stopped 27 shots.
"I think we're on a good roll," Canadian forward Hayley Wickenheiser said. "We've been playing well and training pretty hard. It's given us a good competitive edge that way."
Canada jumped out to an early lead against an American squad that initially appeared out of sync.
"We got up 3-0, but the U.S. didn't back down," Canada coach Melody Davidson said. "Full credit to them. They made us earn that win for sure."
Canada and the United States, heavy favorites in Vancouver, will play again Tuesday night in Calgary.
Two days later, the United States will trim its roster by two to 21 players.
It's making for some anxious players.
"I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a concern," said Hilary Knight, who had one of the U.S goals. "It's definitely in the back of your head. You do as much as you can not to think about it. It will weigh you down if you think about cuts and losing two of your best friends, family members."
Johnson knows he has some tough decisions in the next week. And this may have been the last chance to make a final impression.
"We tweaked things around the last three weeks, to give everyone a real fair opportunity in regards to making the final 21," Johnson said. "Tonight, was no different."
Outside of third-period goals from Knight and Karen Thatcher, the Americans couldn't solve St. Pierre. She made one sprawling save after another.
"Like any other goaltender, you have to find their weaknesses," said Knight, who leads the team with nine goals this season. "She played great tonight. They're good contenders — always a fun game when we play them."
That's why it's such an entertaining rivalry.
"I think it's a terrific rivalry and one of the best there is for the sport," Davidson said. "But it's a healthy one."
Ogrean couldn't agree more. It's setting up for good theater in Vancouver.
"I think each country has two really good goaltenders and two really good coaches," Ogrean said. "We're going to go into Canada, perhaps the advantage to them because they're home. We know when we go into the Olympic building, 95 percent of the audience or more is going to be wearing a red-and-white jersey and cheering for Canada. That is both a wind in their sails but also a weight on their shoulders. We'll be going up there with one goal — ready to play."
8 comments:
Team USA has a lot of work to do.
I'd rather watch grass grow.
I went out to see the game because I never saw these high caliber women teams . I expected more. There is no checking and they skate at about half the speed of college men. I would rate it as semi-dull but that's because i was evaluating them relative to mens hockey. I left after the first period.
Geeze man; if you were expecting to see NHL-style hockey... you bought the wrong ticket!
You guys are not helping the cause here.... After all this complaining, I'm sure USA Hockey would "JUMP" at the chance to bring another event or even refer DU as a host site for another marquee sports event in the future. You'll never see the FF again or Regionals in Denver.....
The FF and NCAA regionals have nothing to do with USA Hockey.
Denver hosted one of the largest attended NCAA Regionals in 2006 and one of the most successful Frozen Fours in history in 2007.
The Frozen Four at the Pepsi Center was such a success that Denver was encouraged to submit a new bid ASAP.
Comparing the turnout at this event to a Frozen Four is like comparing the Broncos to Arena Football.
That being said, this event was horribly marketed. They should have drawn 6,000+ given the teams involved, the sport and the Olympic tie in.
Obviously USA Hockey isn't worried about the money since it sounds like its all underwritten by Qwest. Sounds like DU wasn't involved in the promotion of the event. Still, it was a weak turnout.
I talked with some USA Hockey people at the event, and they were of the opinion that the 3,000 people already at the game pretty WAS the potential audience for a game like this, and that spending more money to heavily promote the event in Denver would not have generated enough ticket reveue to cover the extra cost of the promotion.
In other words, they were happy with the 3,000 who showed up.
Personally, I think there were probably some low-cost stuff they could have done in terms of athlete appearances and PR that would have helped.
Great post… Great info on bounce rates… I’ll have to write an entry about the same topic some day soon… Bounce rates can tell you alot…
I tend to look at the bounce rate and then look at the keywords that brought people to the site. Does the page answer the keyword question? If No then there is some work to do on that or a new more focused post.
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