Klara Peslarova has played every minute for Czechia so far.
photo: Matt Zambonin/IIHF
Making History?
Although there are only ten players in Utica who also played earlier this year at the IIHF U18 Women's World Championship in Switzerland, three in particular are trying to make history. Only four players have won medals at the Women's Worlds and Women's Under-18 in the same year—Marie-Philip Poulin (CAN, 2009), Susanna Tapani (FIN, 2011), and Nelli Laitnen and Viivi Vainikka (FIN, 2019).
But after claiming an historic silver medal at the U18, three Czechs are now poised to join this elite group if they can reach the podium this weekend—Anezka Cabelova, Tereza Plosova, and Adela Sapovalivova.
Up & Down
We now know that China and Denmark will be going down to Division I-A for 2025, which is where they played last year before being promoted to the top level for Utica. This year’s I-A tournament gets under way in Klagenfurt, Austria, in a couple of weeks, and the top two teams will move up to the top level for next year. Participating nations include Austria, France, Hungary, Korea, Netherlands, and Norway.
No matter who makes it, history will be made. Consider, Austria, Korea, and Netherlands have never played in the top level. France has played up only twice, in 2019 and 2023. Hungary’s only top-level experience was in the three-year period 2021-23. And, Norway played up only at the start of the tournament’s history, from 1990-97 (four events).
Young ‘uns
There are only two players in Utica born in 2008—China’s Yifan Wang and Denmark's Olivia Ranum. Wang turned 16 last month, but Ranum isn’t 15 until mid-May. She had one assist in the tournament and averaged eleven minutes of ice time.
The oldest player in Finland’s captain, Jenni Hiirikoski, who turned 37 last month.
Fandom
The attendance record for a WW in the United States is 28,605 set in Burlington, Vermont in 2012. Through 20 games in Utica, we’re already at 46,620, and with nine games remaining should easily surpass 70,000. Wow.
Minutes Played
As of today, the off day, all teams have played four games, but only three goalies have played in all four for their country. Klara Peslarova has played every minute for the Czechs, as did Emma-Sofie Nordstrom with the now-eliminated Danes. China’s Grace (Jiahui) Zhan also played in all four but not every minute, splitting the 8-1 loss to Sweden with Yuqing Wang.
The record for minutes played in one WW is 389:21 (Nana Fujimoto, JPN, 2021), so if the Czechs can make it to the medal games Peslarova has a good chance to set a new record.
“C” This
Is there any meaning behind the fact that six of the ten team captains are defenders? Probably not! Nine of the ten are also returning captains. The one change has been with Czechia. Alena Mills (Polenska) retired after last year’s WW, and veteran Aneta Tejralova has been given the “C” for 2024.
First Goal
Whoever scores first, wins. That’s pretty much the rule here in Utica. Of the 20 games so far, 18 have been won by the team that scores first. The only exceptions were United States-Finland (Group A) and China-Japan (Group B). Of course, these numbers get skewed by shutouts. Amazingly, six of ten Group A games were won by shutout and three in Group B.
Pulling the Goalie
This continues to be one of the big stories. In 11 of 20 games the goalie has been pulled, quite often several minutes from the end of the game. So far we have seen TEN empty-net goals, including two games with two freebies, and only once has a team scored a goal with the extra attacker (Japan versus Germany).
Although there are only ten players in Utica who also played earlier this year at the IIHF U18 Women's World Championship in Switzerland, three in particular are trying to make history. Only four players have won medals at the Women's Worlds and Women's Under-18 in the same year—Marie-Philip Poulin (CAN, 2009), Susanna Tapani (FIN, 2011), and Nelli Laitnen and Viivi Vainikka (FIN, 2019).
But after claiming an historic silver medal at the U18, three Czechs are now poised to join this elite group if they can reach the podium this weekend—Anezka Cabelova, Tereza Plosova, and Adela Sapovalivova.
Up & Down
We now know that China and Denmark will be going down to Division I-A for 2025, which is where they played last year before being promoted to the top level for Utica. This year’s I-A tournament gets under way in Klagenfurt, Austria, in a couple of weeks, and the top two teams will move up to the top level for next year. Participating nations include Austria, France, Hungary, Korea, Netherlands, and Norway.
No matter who makes it, history will be made. Consider, Austria, Korea, and Netherlands have never played in the top level. France has played up only twice, in 2019 and 2023. Hungary’s only top-level experience was in the three-year period 2021-23. And, Norway played up only at the start of the tournament’s history, from 1990-97 (four events).
Young ‘uns
There are only two players in Utica born in 2008—China’s Yifan Wang and Denmark's Olivia Ranum. Wang turned 16 last month, but Ranum isn’t 15 until mid-May. She had one assist in the tournament and averaged eleven minutes of ice time.
The oldest player in Finland’s captain, Jenni Hiirikoski, who turned 37 last month.
Fandom
The attendance record for a WW in the United States is 28,605 set in Burlington, Vermont in 2012. Through 20 games in Utica, we’re already at 46,620, and with nine games remaining should easily surpass 70,000. Wow.
Minutes Played
As of today, the off day, all teams have played four games, but only three goalies have played in all four for their country. Klara Peslarova has played every minute for the Czechs, as did Emma-Sofie Nordstrom with the now-eliminated Danes. China’s Grace (Jiahui) Zhan also played in all four but not every minute, splitting the 8-1 loss to Sweden with Yuqing Wang.
The record for minutes played in one WW is 389:21 (Nana Fujimoto, JPN, 2021), so if the Czechs can make it to the medal games Peslarova has a good chance to set a new record.
“C” This
Is there any meaning behind the fact that six of the ten team captains are defenders? Probably not! Nine of the ten are also returning captains. The one change has been with Czechia. Alena Mills (Polenska) retired after last year’s WW, and veteran Aneta Tejralova has been given the “C” for 2024.
First Goal
Whoever scores first, wins. That’s pretty much the rule here in Utica. Of the 20 games so far, 18 have been won by the team that scores first. The only exceptions were United States-Finland (Group A) and China-Japan (Group B). Of course, these numbers get skewed by shutouts. Amazingly, six of ten Group A games were won by shutout and three in Group B.
Pulling the Goalie
This continues to be one of the big stories. In 11 of 20 games the goalie has been pulled, quite often several minutes from the end of the game. So far we have seen TEN empty-net goals, including two games with two freebies, and only once has a team scored a goal with the extra attacker (Japan versus Germany).