The International Ice Hockey Federation Women’s World U18 Tournament is in Buffalo beginning Monday, January 5.
The week-long event will begin at Noon with Team Japan taking on Team Sweden, both teams faced local girl’s hockey teams over the past week.
The second game will be Czech Republic vs Russia at 3:30 p.m. and then Switzerland vs Finland at 4 p.m. The highlight of the day will be Team USA taking on Team Canada at 7 p.m. All games will be played at HarborCenter. (Tickets for USA/Canada are sold out).
The Gold game will be played Monday, January 12 at 7 p.m.
Earlier this week Team Japan took on the Buffalo Bison’s U16 team at North Buffalo. While regulation ended with Japan beating the Bisons 4-2, the shootout following regulation found the Bisons beating Team Japan 1-0. A note from Team Japan, watch for #9, Moe Tsukimoto, attended and played for Northwood School in Lake Placid.
The Niagara Junior Purple Eagles 19U team took on Team USA and Team Sweden in exhibition play preparing the national teams for their tournament.
Team USA beat the Purple Eagles 6-0. Goals were scored by Patricia Marshall, Rebecca Gilmore, Samantha Davis and Presley Norby. However in a shootout Olivia Zafuto managed to score against the Team USA Goalie and Team USA getting 3 past Goaltender Rachael Farmer, who went in late in the second period after Maddy Welch suffered an injury.
Against Team Sweden, Welch went back between the pipes and managed to hold Sweden to a 8-2 win. Scoring for the NJPE late in the second period was Jessica Jacques and putting the first goal in of the third period was Olivia Zafuto. Again the story changes in an exhibition shootout when NJPE beat Sweden 2-1 with Taylor Wenczkowski and Zafuto getting a puck past the Team Sweden Goalie.
The balance of the schedule follows:
IIHF Ice Hockey U18 Women’s World Championship 2015 Tournament Game Schedule
| Game ID | Round | Group | Date | Visitor | V | Home | H | Location | Status |
| 1 | Preliminary | B | Mon Jan 5 | Japan | – | Sweden | – | HarborCenter – Rink 1, Buffalo, N.Y. | 12:00 PM EST |
| 2 | Preliminary | A | Mon Jan 5 | Czech Republic | – | Russia | – | HarborCenter – Rink 1, Buffalo, N.Y. | 3:30 PM EST |
| 3 | Preliminary | B | Mon Jan 5 | Switzerland | – | Finland | – | HarborCenter – Rink 2, Buffalo, N.Y. | 4:00 PM EST |
| 4 | Preliminary | A | Mon Jan 5 | United States | – | Canada | – | HarborCenter – Rink 1, Buffalo, N.Y. | 7:00 PM EST |
| 5 | Preliminary | B | Tue Jan 6 | Switzerland | – | Sweden | – | HarborCenter – Rink 1, Buffalo, N.Y. | 12:00 PM EST |
| 6 | Preliminary | A | Tue Jan 6 | Russia | – | Canada | – | HarborCenter – Rink 1, Buffalo, N.Y. | 3:30 PM EST |
| 7 | Preliminary | B | Tue Jan 6 | Finland | – | Japan | – | HarborCenter – Rink 2, Buffalo, N.Y. | 4:00 PM EST |
| 8 | Preliminary | A | Tue Jan 6 | Czech Republic | – | United States | – | HarborCenter – Rink 1, Buffalo, N.Y. | 7:00 PM EST |
| 9 | Preliminary | B | Thu Jan 8 | Switzerland | – | Japan | – | HarborCenter – Rink 1, Buffalo, N.Y. | 12:00 PM EST |
| 10 | Preliminary | A | Thu Jan 8 | Canada | – | Czech Republic | – | HarborCenter – Rink 1, Buffalo, N.Y. | 3:30 PM EST |
| 11 | Preliminary | B | Thu Jan 8 | Sweden | – | Finland | – | HarborCenter – Rink 2, Buffalo, N.Y. | 4:00 PM EST |
| 12 | Preliminary | A | Thu Jan 8 | Russia | – | United States | – | HarborCenter – Rink 1, Buffalo, N.Y. | 7:00 PM EST |
| 13 | Relegation | Fri Jan 9 | A4 | – | B4 | – | HarborCenter – Rink 1, Buffalo, N.Y. | 12:00 PM EST | |
| 14 | Quarter-final | Fri Jan 9 | TBD | – | TBD | – | HarborCenter – Rink 1, Buffalo, N.Y. | 3:30 PM EST | |
| 15 | Quarter-final | Fri Jan 9 | TBD | – | TBD | – | HarborCenter – Rink 1, Buffalo, N.Y. | 7:00 PM EST | |
| 16 | Relegation | Sun Jan 11 | B4 | – | A4 | – | HarborCenter – Rink 2, Buffalo, N.Y. | 12:00 PM EST | |
| 17 | Semifinal | Sun Jan 11 | TBD | – | TBD | – | HarborCenter – Rink 1, Buffalo, N.Y. | 3:00 PM EST | |
| 18 | 5th Place | Sun Jan 11 | L14 | – | L15 | – | HarborCenter – Rink 2, Buffalo, N.Y. | 3:30 PM EST | |
| 19 | Semifinal | Sun Jan 11 | TBD | – | TBD | – | HarborCenter – Rink 1, Buffalo, N.Y. | 7:00 PM EST | |
| 20 | Relegation | Mon Jan 12 | A4 | – | B4 | – | HarborCenter – Rink 2, Buffalo, N.Y. | 12:00 PM EST | |
| 21 | Bronze | Mon Jan 12 | L17 | – | L19 | – | HarborCenter – Rink 1, Buffalo, N.Y. | 3:00 PM EST | |
| 22 | Gold | Mon Jan 12 | W17 | – | W19 | – | HarborCenter – Rink 1, Buffalo, N.Y. | 7:00 PM EST |
