Wesley Chapel, Fla. — Emily Pfalzer (Buffalo, N.Y.) recorded a hat trick and 12 different U.S. Women’s National Team players registered points as Team USA topped Finland, 8-2, here today in Wesley Chapel, Florida, to open the 2017 Four Nations Cup.
“I thought we played very well for our progression in this process of residency,” said Robb Stauber, U.S. Women’s National Team head coach. “There are always things we can get better at, but overall it was a pretty clean game for us tonight.”
Hilary Knight (Sun Valley, Idaho) opened up the scoring with a power-play goal 3:52 into the first period. At 9:09 into the frame, Dani Cameranesi (Plymouth, Minn.) fed a pass from the right corner to Amanda Kessel (Madison, Wis.), who converted on a wrist shot right between the hash marks to double the U.S. lead. Pfalzer then increased the advantage when she skated to the right faceoff dot and fired a shot past Finnish goaltender Meeri Räisänen. With less than four minutes to play in the first, Meghan Duggan (Danvers, Mass.) dumped a pass to Pflazer, who skated to the front of the net and scored on a backhanded shot, making it 4-0. Before the period was finished, Cayla Barnes (Eastvale, Calif.) scored from the slot to record her first goal this season with the U.S. Women’s National Team.
Team Finland started off the middle frame with a goaltender change, placing Eveliina Suonpaa in net. Just 5:14 into the stanza, Kelly Pannek (Plymouth, Minn.) stick-handled around a Finnish defender to bring the score to 6-0. Finland put a goal on the board with 47 seconds left on the clock, bringing the score to 6-1 at the end of two periods.
At 13:02 of the final frame, Cameranesi scored off a feed from Hannah Brandt (Vadnais Heights, Ill.), making it 7-1. Pfalzer then completed her hat trick with 10 minutes remaining, before Finland struck with 2:41 left, accounting for the 8-2 final. Rooney stopped 11 of 13 shots in the victory.
Team USA continues Four Nations Cup play tomorrow (Nov. 8) against Canada at 7 p.m. ET. That contest will be streamed live on HockeyTV.com.
NOTES: The U.S. outshot Finland 32 to 13 … The U.S. Player of the Game was Emily Pfalzer … For complete game statistics, click here … The 2017 Four Nations Cup is part of The Time is Now Tour, presented by Toyota, which features the 2017-18 U.S. Women’s National Team as it prepares for the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea. For more information, including the full schedule and ticket information, visit TheTimeisNowTour.com … For full coverage of the U.S. Women’s National Team, click here. Follow along on social media @USAHockey on Twitter and Instagram, and Facebook.com/uswomenshockey.
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