Canada in good hands with Maschmeyer in nets
Talk about your mixed emotions for Emerance Maschmeyer.
A sellout crowd of 5,850 at the Sandman Centre nearly blew the roof off the building with their applause Monday night when it was announced that Maschmeyer was Team Canada’s player of the game as well as the top goaltender for the IIHF women’s hockey world championship tournament.
That episode came moments after Alex Carpenter had beaten Maschmeyer in a wild scramble at 12:30 of overtime to give the Americans a 1-0 victory and their third straight world title. It was their sixth crown in seven tries.
Canada has won four straight Olympic gold medals and, if we’ve learned anything out of this tournament, it is that Canada’s goaltending is in capable hands heading toward the Pyeongchang 2018 Games with Maschmeyer, a Harvard product.
Shannon Szabados, 29, who has backstopped Canada to its last two Olympic golds, has been focused on playing men’s minor pro the past two seasons.
It’ll be interesting to see her status for the Pyeongchang Games.
“I’m happy she’s Canadian,” veteran national team winger Meghan Agosta said of Maschmeyer, 21, a native of Bruderheim, Alta., who made 33 stops Sunday night.
“She’s an unbelievable goalten- der. She has a bright future in this program. She kept us in the game and she gave us a chance.”
Maschmeyer, who was undoubtedly playing this week in front of many folks who had watched her older brother Bronson, 24, man the blue line for three seasons there with the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers, said of the crowd: “The fans were amazing. They kept us in the game the whole time. ”
Alex Rigsby made 32 saves in the American net.
The Americans beat the Canadians 3-1 in preliminary round action on the opening night of the tournament on March 28. Maschmeyer made 35 saves that night.