USA Women's Hockey

VANTAA, Finland – The U.S. Women’s National Team opened play at the 2012 Four Nations Cup today with a 4-0 victory over Sweden at Tikkurila Valttie Arena.
 
“I think overall it was a good start for us,” said Katey Stone (Arlington Mass.), head coach of Team USA.  “There (were) a lot of young kids in the line-up, starting in goal with Alex Rigsby and she did great. It was a good first game. We did a lot of really good things and had great puck movement. Overall I thought it was a good effort.”
 
Defenseman Lisa Chesson (Plainfield, Ill.) put Team USA on top early with a tap-in goal from the left side of the crease assisted by Amanda Kessel (Madison, Wis.) at 1:57 of the first period.
 
In the second period, Monique Lamoureux (Grand Forks, N.D.) found the rebound from Kelli Stack’s(Brooklyn Heights, Ohio) shot-pass in the crease for another tap-in goal at 10:15 to give the U.S. its second tally.  Stack then notched her second point of the game with a high wrist shot with help from Jocelyne Lamoureux (Grand Forks, N.D.) at 17:07 for Team USA’s third goal. 
 
Kessel became the second U.S. player to post a two-point night, recording the secondary assist on Brianna Decker’s (Dousman, Wis.) high, stick-side goal with 7:36 left to play.  Sarah Erickson (Roseau, Minn.) was also credited with an assist on the play.
 
U.S. goaltender Alex Rigsby (Delafield, Wis.) posted a shutout in her senior national team debut, making nine saves; three in each period.
 
NOTES: Monique Lamoureux was chosen as Team USA’s Player of the Game … The next game of the tournament for the U.S. is against Canada on Wed., Nov. 7, at 4 p.m. (9 a.m. EST).
 
Game Summary 
Scoring by Period     1 2 3 F 
SWE     0    0   0   0 
USA      1    2   1   4 
  
First Period - Scoring: 1, USA, Chesson (Kessel), 1:57. Penalties: USA, Erickson (hooking), 4:14; USA, Erickson (slashing), 6:50; SWE, Olofsson (tripping), 9:56; SWE, Nevalainen (holding), 17:50. 

Second Period – Scoring: 2, USA, M. Lamoureux (Stack), 10:15; 3, USA, Stack (J. Lamoureux), 17:07. Penalties: USA, J. Lamoureux (slashing), 1:24; SWE, Eliasson (cross-checking), 6:15. 

Third Period – Scoring: 4, USA, Decker (Erickson, Kessel), 12:24.  Penalties: USA, Bozek (slashing), 1:12; SWE, bench (too many players), 2:54; SWE, Nevalainen (holding the stick), 3:53; USA, McMillen (tripping), 13:04; SWE, Nevalainen (holding), 19:19.    

Shots On Goal     1 2 3 Total
SWE      3   3   3   9 
USA     16  12  19 47 

Goaltenders (SV-SH) 1 2 3 Total 
SWE, Martin, 60:00 15-16 10-12 18-19 43-47 
USA, Rigsby, 60:00 3-3 3-3 3-3 9-9 

Powerplay: SWE, 0-5; USA, 0-6
Penalties: SWE, 6-12; USA, 5-10