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After Canada Series, Sophia Shaver Eager for U18 Worlds

By Doug Williams - Special to USAHockey.com, 12/29/14, 11:15AM MST

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Shaver Contributed Two Assists in Third Game of Series

Sophia Shaver is a newcomer to the U.S. Women’s National Under-18 Team, so when she and her teammates traveled to Canada this August for a three-game series, she wasn’t quite sure what to expect.

The first two games in Calgary weren’t pleasant for Team USA. The Canadians won the first game 3-2 and the second 5-2. But by the third game, the Americans were feeling much more comfortable.

Shaver, a 17-year-old high school senior from Wayzata, Minn., contributed two assists in a 4-1 victory.

What was the difference?

“I think it was just our girls,” Shaver said. “There were a lot of new girls like me, coming into the program, all just holding on to their sticks too tightly. We hadn’t played together that much. But as the games went on we started to figure each other out and get new lines that worked together, and we kind of relaxed by the end.”

Now, as the team gets ready for the 2015 IIHF U18 Women's World Championship in Buffalo, N.Y., beginning Jan. 5, U.S. coach Joel Johnson is going to be counting on many of the new members of the national team such as Shaver.

Already, in national camps and the series in Calgary, the 5-foot-10 forward has shown she’s capable of big things.

“Sophia’s a player that’s growing and has really kind of burst onto the scene in the last 12 months,” Johnson said. “She’s a big, strong physical player who is learning how to play at a high level. I think she’s just coming into her own physically.

“She’s a power forward who can dominate the game by possessing the puck.”

Johnson believes that with her size and strength, she can be a great asset not only for the U18 program but also to future U.S. teams.

Added Reagan Carey, director of the women’s national program for USA Hockey: “We’re looking forward to what she can bring as far as that new energy, and she’s a pretty big player. So for us to have that size and that aggressive nature that she can bring to the forward position … we’ve got to get some goals in there, and we’re looking for her to do that.”

Shaver has been in the USA Hockey program for about four years. After the series in Canada, she and several other U18 players went to Denver to train with some of the women from the senior national team, which she said was a terrific experience.

She says this whole year has been a crash course in advanced hockey: learning to play at a faster pace against more experienced players. She does believe she’s making progress and loosening up a little — not holding that stick quite as tight anymore — and playing her game.

That game involves using her size and strength in the power-forward mold, going to the net and looking to set up teammates.

When she faced the Canadians, she quickly learned she had to play quicker to keep up.

“It’s the overall movement,” she said. “Girls know where to support their teammates and also just how fast they move the puck. They don’t hesitate when they have it. When they see a pass, they’ll just move it right away. That’s one of the biggest differences I noticed.”

In just a short while, Shaver says this U.S. team has bonded. The players have high hopes for the tournament in Buffalo. All year, they’ve been focused on winning the gold, and she believes they can. The victory in August in Game 3 of the series with the Canadians was significant, she said.

“It gives us some confidence that we have the ability to beat them,” she said. “We just need to play like we did that third game. Just play hard the entire game.”

Before Shaver took up hockey, she was a dancer. But in elementary school a sister started playing hockey and Sophia got hooked, too.

Now Shaver has big things ahead: the U18 World Championships, a college commitment to the University of Wisconsin and a bright hockey future representing the U.S. That was one of the things she found she enjoyed most about the experience in Calgary: wearing “USA.”

“It was awesome to put the jersey on right before the game and then just play with your team,” she said.

Story from Red Line Editorial, Inc.

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