All 39 PWHL players have advanced to the tournament’s medal round, April 11-14 in Utica, NY
TORONTO, ON (April 10, 2024) – Top Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) talent has been showcased throughout the preliminary round of the 2024 IIHF Women’s World Championship in Utica, NY. All 39 PWHL players competing in the tournament’s top division remain in medal contention and are represented across all eight countries that have advanced to the quarterfinals scheduled for Thursday, April 11 at Adirondack Bank Center.
Here are some of the PWHL highlights from the preliminary round:
- Minnesota’s Kendall Coyne Schofield is tied for first in tournament scoring with six points, including three goals and three assists in four games.
- New York’s Alex Carpenter and Boston’s Hilary Knight are tied for third in Team USA scoring with five points in four games. Carpenter has scored one of the tournament’s two hat tricks, and Knight’s two power play goals are tied for the tournament lead.
- Ottawa’s Akane Shiga leads Japan in scoring with five points, including two goals and three assists in four games.
- Montréal’s Kristin O’Neill leads Canada in scoring with four points, including two goals and two assists in four games, followed by Ottawa’s Brianne Jenner and Toronto’s Sarah Nurse with three points each.
- Boston’s Susanna Tapani is second in scoring for Finland with three points, including one goal and two assists in four games.
- Ottawa’s Aneta Tejralová and Tereza Vanišová are tied for fourth in scoring for Czechia with two points each in four games.
- Boston’s Alina Müller is tied for second in scoring for Switzerland with one point in four games.
- Boston’s Aerin Frankel backstopped the United States to first place in the Group A standings with three wins and leads the tournament with two shutouts. She ranks third overall with a goals-against-average of 0.98 and fourth with a save percentage of .939 among goaltenders with multiple starts.
- Montréal’s Ann-Renée Desbiens won two of her three starts for Canada, including one shutout, and leads the tournament with a .974 SV% and a 0.65 GAA.
- Ottawa’s Sandra Abstreiter backstopped Germany to first place in the Group B standings with three wins, including one shutout, and ranks second overall with a .973 SV% and a 0.67 GAA.
- Boston’s Emma Söderberg won two of her three starts for Sweden and ranks fourth with a 1.35 GAA.
- Minnesota’s Nicole Hensley and Ottawa’s Emerance Maschmeyer were both perfect in their single starts recording 19 and 17-save shutouts for the United States and Canada.
- The top-five plus-minus leaders are all from the PWHL led by Toronto’s Jocelyne Larocque with a plus-9 rating, followed by Canadian teammate Renata Fast at plus-8, Alex Carpenter (NY) at plus-7, and both Hilary Knight (BOS) and Kendall Coyne Schofield (MIN) at plus-6.
- Montréal’s Marie-Philip Poulin leads Canada and ranks second in the tournament in face-offs by winning 71.43% of her draws. Minnesota’s Kelly Pannek is second on Team USA and fourth overall at 69.64%.
- There are 13 PWHL on-ice officials assigned to World Championship games including referees Jennifer Berezowski (CAN), Melissa Doyle (USA), Samantha Hiller (USA), Cianna Lieffers (CAN), Amy Martin (CAN), Shauna Neary (CAN), Chelsea Rapin (USA), and Amanda Tassoni (USA), and linespersons Sarah Buckner (USA), Alex Clarke (CAN), Laura Gutauskas (CAN), Justine Todd (CAN), and Kirsten Welsh (CAN).
Thursday’s quarterfinal matchups include Finland against Switzerland at 10:00 a.m. ET, Czechia against Germany at 1:30 p.m. ET, Canada against Sweden at 5:00 p.m. ET, and the United States against Japan at 8:30 p.m. ET. Semifinals will be played on Saturday, April 13, with both the bronze medal and gold medal finals scheduled for Sunday, April 14. Fans can watch the action on TSN/RDS in Canada, and NHL Network in the U.S. For more information visit iihf.com.
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