Five Gophers represented the United States in the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Women’s World Championships in Brampton, Ontario. The United States faced off against Canada in the gold medal game on Sunday evening.
Abbey Murphy tallied the United States’ first goal of the game with her signature toe drag finish to tie the game at 1-1
Two Gopher and Badger legends, Amanda Kessel and Hilary Knight, combined for the United States’ second goal as Kessel set up Knight in a two-on-one.
Taylor Heise also recorded a primary assist on Knight’s second goal, which ended up becoming the game winner in the United States’ 6-3 win.
Knight tallied another goal less than 30 seconds later to complete the hat trick with Kessel, having an assist for her second point of the game.
Caroline Harvey — a recent national champion with Wisconsin — also had a goal in the title game.
Heise and Murphy earned their first gold medal in the IIHF Women’s World Championship, both entering this year’s tournament with a silver medal. Their gold medals come just four weeks after the Gophers lost to the Badgers in the Frozen Four.
Harvey, alongside current Badger teammates Lacy Eden, Nicole LaMantia and Britta Curl, won their first gold medals at the Women’s Worlds as well.
Overall, in this year’s tournament, Heise finished fourth in scoring with 12 points in seven games. Murphy had 8 points, including 5 goals.
Additionally, the Gophers that represented other nations performed well. Nelli Laitinen had 10 points in seven games with Finland and placed third among all defensemen in scoring. On the international stage, Laitinen showed a lot of skill and promise as an offensive blue liner. At just 20 years old, she’s recording a point-per-game in a highly competitive tournament.
Sweden representative Josefin Bouveng had 1 goal in seven games playing in her second Women’s World Championships tournament
Alumna Kessel had 9 points throughout the tournament en route to her fourth World Championships gold medal.
More than half of the skates on the United States team are products of the Gophers or Badgers programs. Of the 20 skaters selected for the United States’ tournament team, 11 were alumnae or current players at Minnesota or Wisconsin.