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| Jammin' Jocelyne |
Saturday, Saturday, Saturday Night's All Right
Minutes after being ejected from the game late in the frenetic third period for brawling, SportsRap caught up with Jocelyne smiling and signing autographs for hundreds of little girls wearing hockey jerseys on the second floor of Gutterson Field House in Burlington. Here is the transcript of that interview
How did this all break out?
So Monique was getting cross-checked in the back of the head. Monique was kind of defenseless at that point so I grabbed whoever was on top of her (Courtney Birchard). We matched up and a couple of other people matched up and I think it got a little out of hand 'cause a few people were jumping from pile to pile instead of just matching up one on one.
I think it was a bigger scrum than needed to be. At a certain point you just have to stick up for your teammates. I think it should be one on one, not jumping from pile to pile.
Did this remind you of Victoria, four years ago (another similar USA-Canada line brawl)
Yeah, I wasn't on the ice for that one, (Was there a faint sense of regret?) but it was like that, yeah.
Did you have to show restraint not to drop your gloves? Because your opponent dropped her gloves and was throwing hands.
I mean everyone had their helmet on, I don't think anyone wants to break a finger on someone's mask. If something like that's going to happen, I think it just needs to be fair. If someone turtles on the ice, then they stop swinging, that's how men handle it in the NHL, and if that's gonna happen in our game I think it should be handled in a safe, safe manner
Are you looking forward to Montreal?
Yeah; hopefully it's a better game on our side.
Hey, third period you guys were fine
Third period we played really well. We'll take some positives from out of that and then fix some things from the first and second.
And then Joceylne, seated next to Monique, continued smiling broadly for the kids she was signing for. All in a day's work for the Red, White and Blue.
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Her USA squad was so thoroughly outplayed by Team Canada in the first two periods that it was reminiscent of the Maple Leaf's pre-1997 dominance, with many of the same characters leading the way. The Red and White's veteran line of Jayna Hefford (b. 1977), Hayley Wickenheiser (b. 1978) and Caroline Ouellette (b. 1979) scored the prettiest goal of the game, a 200 foot passing sequence finished off by Hefford from Wick and Ouellete. The line has a new moniker, "That '70's Show." Wickenhieser is on a mission. She has been stripped of any letters on her jersey, and is fighting to make the squad. She is still sore about her sub-par performance at the World Championships in Ottawa last spring, and is desperate to flip the script. She was brilliant in this contest, collecting 2 helpers and being a constant factor in each shift.
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| Hayley Wickenheiser Fighting Father Time |
"I feel good," said the 35 year old Wickenheiser after the convincing victory. "Last year at the World Championships I had some injuries, I've got to get myself back. It was a great start for our team just to get confident and come back after a tough loss at the World's last year."
The ice was so badly tilted toward the USA net in the second period that Canada outscored the Yanks 2-0 and outshot them 12-2 despite a mid-period timeout by USA bench boss Katey Stone. It was 3-0 halfway through the 3rd period until Brianna Decker tapped in a 5 on 3 PP marker prompting USA's about face as they made a game of it.
Things to take away from Burlington: USA benefits much more from these games than Canada because they have a weaker schedule. Canada is getting a steady diet of elite boys Midget teams (age 15-17) while USA has a mish-mosh schedule, making the Canadians much better acclimated to these high intensity tilts. This scenario is similar to the last Olympic winter Games in Vancouver, which became a story line fueled by this NY Times article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/25/sports/olympics/25whockey.html?pagewanted=all
USA's new GM Reagan Carey says that it's business as usual, the NGB's mission is to grow the game and that means having the women play exhibitions up and down the Eastern seaboard, and the opponent can sometimes be secondary. Based on the opening two periods Saturday, that spells trouble for Team USA as it did in Vancouver.
Other notes: USA's Lisa Chesson is the best women's hockey defenseman in the world. Think of a female version of Nik Lidstrom and you are on the right track, only she is more soft spoken. For those who love skating and appreciate the game as it is meant to be played, she is a joy to watch...Kendall Coyne was the best USA forward. Her speed and tenacity will be very tough for Canada to contend with in Sochi...Hilary Knight is no longer the dominant center ice force she was in 2009, but her considerable backside has her dominating the corners now. She is tenacious, and won nearly every 50-50 puck in the corners, even a crucial 30-70 puck in the third period due to her will and her fabulous hockey tush. Blocks out the sun, retrieves puck. She is completely healthy now, but a different player than four years ago. She is on the verge of stardom again, but in a new package...Jincy Dunne is hanging on, learning how to play the game at this high a level. She was paired primarily with Chesson in Burlington, and did not get burned, and made some plays on the offensive blue line. According to the most knowledgable women's hockey mind in Boston, she is 7th of 8 D on this club, and unless USA changes their team makeup, they are only bringing six D...
More notes will be added to this blog following the Canada game Thursday in Montreal. Tune in to Fast Hockey, it will be worth the 5 clams.
