Bronze good, but not good enough for Canada’s U18 women

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This article was published 16/01/2024 (946 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Canada’s dominant run at the recent world U18 world women’s hockey championship in Zug, Switzerland had one small imperfection.

That flaw — a 4-2 loss to Czechia in Saturday’s semifinals — cost the enormously talented Canadians a shot at gold.

Canada outscored its opponents 29-1 in three round-robin games before thumping Switzerland 6-0 in the quarter-finals.

“It was definitely a very talented group but I think sometimes we might have had to move the puck a little bit more in the big games,” said Team Canada centre Sara Manness, one of two Manitobans on the squad that vanquished Finland 8-1 in Sunday’s bronze-medal game. “Even though we blew out some teams, in the game that really mattered I think we could have done a better job. I mean, we had to do a better job because that was kind of the letdown of the tournament, obviously. Bronze is good but it’s definitely not what we were going for.”

Canada was a heavy pre-tournament favourite, having swept the American U18 team in three exhibition games during the summer with essentially the same roster. That U.S. squad earned gold Sunday, beating Czechia 5-1 in the final.

“There’s a lot of pressure on every game is what I would say,” said Canada’s Avery Pickering, a 17-year-old blue-liner from St. Adolphe. “You get to the medal round and one game takes you out and you need to be at your best every time you step on the ice. As a team, you have to bring it every game. We had one game against Czechia and that was the end of it for us.”

The Canadians averaged a 53.3 shots in six tournament games while only giving up 10.3 per game over that span. They outshot Czechia 47-12 in the semifinal loss.

“It’s not what we wanted to have happen, for sure, and it’s pretty tough to swallow maybe even even a few days later,” said Pickering, who immediately headed back to Hamilton, N.Y., where she’s a freshman at Colgate University and plays for the Raiders hockey team. “But it’s one of those things that you look at and I guess that’s hockey, right? That’s sport. Someone’s got to be on the other side of the upset and they happen all the time. The Czechs played a really hard game, they played really well and it’s just kind of the way it worked out.”

“We were a little bit selfish sometimes,” added Manness. “We might have been a little bit over our heads and you know, I think it came back to bite us in the butt.”

It was the second and final appearance at the U18 worlds for Pickering, who won gold with Canada in 2023. Manness, a 16-year-old centre from La Salle, was making her debut at the U18 worlds and she’ll be eligible to return next season.

“We were a little bit selfish sometimes. We might have been a little bit over our heads and you know, I think it came back to bite us in the butt.”–Sara Manness

 

Manness, who led the recent Canadian U18 championship in scoring and was named MVP of the tournament, registered three assists in six games for the U18 national squad in Switzerland but aggravated a back injury in the opening game of the tournament.

“It didn’t affect me enough that I had to miss out on the games, but it was definitely adversity and it definitely affected me mentally,” said Manness, by phone from Burlington, Ont., where she plays for the Barracudas of the Ontario Women’s Hockey League’s U22 division. “But I was still able to kind of do what I could — I did my best…

“I was happy with my role. I had a big role on (penalty kill) and faceoffs and as two-way player but, obviously, I always expect a lot for myself. So, I’m going to try and give more of an impact offensively if I get the opportunity to next year.”

Manness is planning to take two weeks off to rest her back before returning to action with the Barracudas.

“I can’t wait for next year — we’re gonna go get gold,” said Manness. “I’m just gonna do whatever I can and, hopefully, if I get the chance to go next year I’ll help make a big impact offensively.”

Pickering, who tallied three assists in Zug, missed seven games with her college team while away in Europe. At Colgate, she’ll be playing top-four minutes with the 20-3-1 Raiders, who are currently ranked No. 2 in the NCAA.

The Raiders have ambitions to win the first national championship in program history.

“We’ve been up and down the rankings a little bit but always in that top five, though,” said Pickering. “This past weekend they beat Cornell for the first time on the road since I think 2009, which was really awesome and everyone was pretty excited about that. So, I’m excited to get back to the team and be a part of it again.”

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca