| 14 Americans register a point; U.S. Advances to Semifinals |
| CALGARY, Alberta – Hilary Knight (Sun Valley, Idaho) passed Hall of Famer Cammi Granato for the American all-time point record today as the U.S. (4-0-0-1) skated to a 10-2 victory over Japan in the quarterfinals of the IIHF Women’s World Championship.Knight tied Granato’s 78-point record with a goal in the first, followed by her record-breaking point from an assist in the second. The U.S. continues its IIHF WWC campaign in the semifinal round on Monday (Aug.30), with its matchup still to be determined, pending the result of the final two quarterfinal games. “I give all the credit to the players” said Joel Johnson (White Bear Lake, Minn.), head coach of the 2021 U.S. Women’s National Team. “They were great. They started out really fast and continued to play with that pace so it was fun to watch. It was great to get that win and we’re going to get back together tomorrow to start preparing for the semifinals.” Alex Carpenter (North Reading, Mass.) put the U.S. on the board 3:10 into the first. Cayla Barnes (Eastvale, Calif.) dumped a pass off the boards which found Amanda Kessel (Madison, Wis.) who made a quick pass to Carpenter who put it past Japan netminder Nana Fujimoto. Thirty-one seconds later, Knight cleaned up a stalled puck in the crease to tie Granato for the American record at the tournament. Japan tallied its first of the game to cut the U.S. lead to one with less than 10 minutes to play in the first.Team USA tacked on three more goals in the first 20 with help from Grace Zumwinkle (Excelsior, Minn.), Carpenter and Megan Keller (Farmington Hills, Mich.) as eight different players recorded a point. Japan netted one more before the end of the first to make it a 5-2 game. Brianna Decker (Dousman, Wis.) tallied a goal 5:43 into the second with help from Knight which was the record-breaking point. Caroline Harvey (Salem, N.H.) got in on the action for her first career U.S. Women’s National Team goal 2:38 later to put Team USA up 7-2. Zumwinkle opened the third as she put one past Akane Konishi who came in for relief between the pipes for Team Japan in the second period. Knight recorded her second goal of the game 1:44 later to increase the U.S. lead to seven. Dani Cameranesi (Plymouth, Minn.) found the back of the net to make the score 10-2 which would eventually be the final. Nine players finished with multi-point totals for Team USA in the quarterfinal victory. Alex Cavallini (Delafield, Wis.) started in net for the U.S., stopping eight shots. Nicole Hensley (Lakewood, Colo.) came in for the third period and finished with two saves for Team USA.Team USA’s semifinal match, along with every U.S. tournament game, will be televised live in the United States on NHL Network. (USA Hockey Photo) |
