Canada West Alumni For The Win!

It isn't often that I can spend part of my afternoon working and watching hockey at the same time, but today was one of those times as I took in the SDHL game today as Djurgårdens IF traveled to Stockholm to face SDE HF. Admittedly, my ability to understand Swedish is virtually nil, but it's easy to find a number of players on the ice who once skated in North America and specifically in Canada West. Beyond that, though, the SDHL is a league that one should be watching along with the PWHPA and the PHF when it comes to elite professional women's hockey. Let's take a look at what happened and who did the scoring in this game as I had one eye on the action as I answered emails and responded to instant messages this afternoon!

Immediately noticeable was SDE's goaltender as former Alberta Pandas netminder Lindsey Post was in the blue paint today. Post was making her first start of the season as the 0-1-0-0 SDE squad looked to move back to .500 with Post backstopping them. If you missed the season preview, Pernilla Winberg, formerly of Team Sweden and currently part of C More's hockey coverage, talked about the importance of Post to SDE this season if they hoped to compete for a championship. We got our first look at Post today as she got the start against Djurgårdens!

Things went in the wrong direction when Djurgårdens forward Josefine Jakobsen notched her first goal of the season at 11:42 of the opening frame. Turnovers at the blue line will kill teams every time, and this one certainly hurt as Djurgårdens broke back in on a mini three-on-two where Julia Östlund spotted Jakobsen with a step on her check in the middle, and her pass found Jakobsen's tape as she redirected the puck past Post in close to put Djurgårdens up 1-0.

The score would hold for the remainder of the first and all of 59 seconds into the second period when former UBC Thunderbirds sniper Hannah Clayton-Carroll found the back of the net for her first goal of the season for SDE! They say good goal scorers find places where they can be successful, and Clayton-Carroll certainly did that as she moved from the corner to the front of the net as her check attempted to break up the cycle in the corner. The puck went from Michelle Löwenhielm in the corner to another former Thunderbird in Mathea Fischer who was beside the net, and Fischer spotted Clayton-Carroll wide open at the top of the crease where Clayton-Carroll converted the pass into a goal to make it 1-1!

As an aside, Fischer wasn't credited with an assist on the official scoresheet despite it clearly being her who passed the puck out front, so we'll keep an eye on the scoring because there should be an adjustment. It felt like old times watching Fischer dish a great pass to Clayton-Carroll, so perhaps this UBC connection for SDE will result in good things this season!

Later in the second period, though, the UBC connections struck again as Kelly Murray's blast from the point was tipped by Hannah Clayton-Carroll in front at 12:41! Credit to Michelle Löwenhielm and Mathea Fischer for battling to get control of the puck off a scrambled draw in the offensive zone, and Fischer finally poked the puck back to the point where Murray stepped into a blast. The passive defence by Djurgårdens in front of their goalie allowed Clayton-Carroll to set up, and she got a piece of Murray's blast to redirect the puck past Selma Luggin for the 2-1 SDE lead!

Again, there was no assist given to Fischer despite her clearly poking the puck back to Murray, so let's hope she's credited with a pair of assists at some point. Personally, it would have been pretty cool to see all three Thunderbirds in on one goal this early in the season, but SDE is reaping the benefits of having three former Thunderbirds on the roster!

From there, it was the Post show as Lindsey Post decided two goals was enough offence for her on this day. In the final 40 minutes, Post stopped 21 of the 27 shots she faced on the day, surrendering nothing more than the Jakobsen goal in the first period. Just as she did in Canada West, Post closed the door on the opposition with some spectacular goaltending to earn the victory in the 2-1 SDE win!

I'd love to post the highlights of these games, but the SDHL seems to believe that they'll attract more fans if they hoard all of the highlights on their website. There's no embed options and I didn't want to rip the video from the site (assuming that's possible still). What I will do, though, is link directly to their video where there is a highlight package because if they're unwilling to share, I'm unwilling to drive traffic to their site. C'est la vie, SDHL, until you change your video-hoarding ways.

SDE records their first win of the season to move to 1-1-0-0 on the season thanks to a trio of Thunderbirds and a Panda between the pipes. Hannah Clayton-Carroll now sits in seventh-place in the SDHL scoring race with two goals and a helper on the season while Lindsey Post sits near the top of the goaltending leaders early in this season. SDE's next action comes Saturday when they will visit HV71 who sit at 0-1-1-0 on the season, one point back of SDE!

It's good to see a number of former Canada West players finding their groove early this season in the SDHL. There will likely be more who add their names to the list of alumni who scored professionally this season before the campaign is done, but seeing the likes of Jaycee Magwood, Hannah Clayton-Carroll, and Lindsey Post doing well this early in the season is one of the main reasons I watch SDHL hockey mid-afternoon on a Wednesday!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!