Latest news with #PetraNieminen
Boston Globe
09-04-2025
- Sport
- Boston Globe
US routs Finland, 7-1, in opener at women's hockey world championship
Petra Nieminen scored the lone goal for Finland on a power play. Related : Scamurra put the Americans 1-0 up 2:44 into the game on a rebound and doubled the advantage moments later. Pannek increased the lead to 3-0 from the slot in the first period as the Americans stormed the ice early and she finished off the rout with her second goal in the final period. Advertisement Defenseman Stecklein, who took the past year off to focus on her PWHL career, marked her return with a goal from a backhand shot in the second period. Earlier, Sweden defeated Germany 5-2 in their opening game in Group B. Hanna Thuvik scored the first goal of the tournament 10:34 into the opening period for Sweden. Mira Hallin doubled the lead midway through the second in a Group B game. Luisa Welcke reduced the German deficit to 2-1 in the second period before Anna Kjellbin and Thea Johansson both scored in the third for Sweden. Emily Nix netted in the third for Germany on a power play with Hanna Olsson finishing off the five-goal Swedish tally by scoring into an empty net. Advertisement The host Czech Republic — bronze medalists twice in the last three tournaments — plays Switzerland in Group A later Wednesday. The US and defending champion Canada are the tournament favorites, continuing a long-standing cross-border rivalry. Canada has won 13 world titles followed by the U.S. with 10 spanning the previous 23 championships. Finland is the only other team apart from Canada and the U.S. to reach the final, doing so in 2019. Canada opens its title defense against Finland on Thursday. The 12-day, 10-nation tournament in the southern Czech city of Ceske Budejovice represents the final major international tune-up before the 2026 Winter Games in Italy. The teams are divided into two groups for a preliminary round. All five teams from Group A and the top three from Group B qualify for the playoffs. The bottom two from Group B, which also features Japan, Norway and Hungary, are relegated.
Yahoo
17-02-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
SDHL Playoff Preview: Luleå vs Skellefteå
First place Luleå will look to win yet another SDHL title. To do so, they'll need to get through upstart Skellefteå first. Here's a look at their opening round SDHL playoff series. In the first round of the SDHL playoffs, which begin on Wednesday, regular season champions Luleå will face off against league newcomers Skellefteå. On paper, Skellefteå is outmatched; they dropped all four contests they played against Luleå this season, and were outscored by a combined 18-6. Luleå boasts five of the league's top 15 scorers and tallied 160 goals this season, 64 more than their eighth place opponents, Skellefteå. Petra Nieminen won the league's scoring title, with 45 points (25g, 20a). No SKE player hit the 30 point mark. Indeed, six of Luleå's players scored more than their opponent's top scorer. Luleå seems to only go from strength to strength: imports Sarah Bujold and Savannah Norcross, though added later in the season, immediately made an impact, each tallying 18 points in 14 and 13 games played respectively. The reigning SDHL champs unsurprisingly led the league in power play success rate at 29.4% and penalty killing at 94.3%. Despite Luleå's undeniable might, Skellefteå has reason to believe. The newest SDHL team has battled hard all season, and celebrated upset wins against both Frölunda and MoDo. They secured a playoff spot despite being docked wins and points in the standings when they league determined they had dressed too many imports for games in the first half of the season. Finnish wing Ida Kuoppala and Dane Nicoline Söndergaard Jensen have been heating up, with 11 and nine points respectively in the team's last ten games. Goaltender Camryn Drever has played exceptionally all season, her first in Sweden after a standout career at the University of Saskatchewan. Finns Aino Karppinen and Sini Karjalainen have shown flashes of brilliance, while Marah Wagner, Mikayla Lantto and young Nikita Bergmann have shown no fear (and a high degree of swag) against some of the league's fiercest opponents. Skellefteå will eventually succumb, but not without putting up a Prediction: Luleå wins series 3-0
