Kessel to Miss 2014-2015 Season

Announced today, Minnesota Golden Gopher superstar forward, Amanda Kessel, will miss the entire 2014-2015 season due to lingering concussion symptoms suffered while playing with the USA Women's National Team according to Gopher head coach Brad Frost.

In a statement released on gophersports.com, Kessel went on to say her health is her main priority and is very disappointed that she will not be able to return to play this season. Kessel also had missed the entire 2013-2014 season for the Gophers to prepare with the national team for the Sochi Olympics.

Kessel is fourth all time in Gopher scoring with 97 goals and 134 assists, totaling 231 points. She is also the 2013 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award winner, equivalent to the Hobey Baker in men's play, and helped the Gophers to a perfect season in 2012-2013.

What does this mean now for the rest of the WCHA and division one women's hockey? Well, a lot, and not too much, but let me explain first. Yes, Kessel is a huge scoring threat that will be missing from the Minnesota line-up and it did show at times last season that her presence on the roster could be seen. However, Minnesota is still a top three team in women's hockey and is always a threat to win a national title.

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• Lamoureux Snubbed for Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award

USA vs. Canada twitter

The Women's Olympic Hockey team goes for gold against the Canada "the Evil Empire" tomorrow.

Crazy to think that the Gold medal game is tomorrow. A lifetime of work about to be poured into a 60 minute game.
— Amanda Kessel (@AmandaKessel8) February 19, 2014

“@SenoraErdo: the gold medal game will be on in my class. Too bad I can’t get subtitles en español! #gousawomenshockey” muy bien, gracias!
— Kendall Coyne (@KendallCoyne) February 18, 2014

Our #wcw goes out to @moniquelam7 & @JocelyneUSA17! Can't wait to watch you tomorrow at 11am! GO @usahockey! #GOLD pic.twitter.com/4u0oBtypFt
— RalphEngelstadArena (@TheREA) February 19, 2014

#TeamUSA will be wearing white tomorrow in the Women’s Gold Medal Final at 9:00PM MSK, 12:00PM ET pic.twitter.com/GLfQxbhQOd
— Brent Proulx (@brentproulx) February 19, 2014

"@SochiTwit: @Juliechu13 When do you play again? #Sochi2014" tomorrow at noon est in the Gold medal game!!
— Julie Chu (@juliechu13) February 19, 2014

Gold medal game tomorrow!!!! #USA #Olympics #hockey #OTOT
— Megan Bozek (@meganebozek) February 19, 2014

Best of luck to @Hilary_Knight and the rest of @USOlympic women's hockey tomorrow in the gold medal game. Make sure to tune in 12 EST on NBC
— Landon Ferraro (@LandonFerraro) February 19, 2014

#Meditation http://t.co/otu8kbFdC5
— Hilary Knight (@Hilary_Knight) February 19, 2014

USA Women blitz Switzerland 9-0

It was a very good day for the American women, Monique Lamoureux, Amanda Kessel, Kendall Coyne each scored two goals for team USA.

First period -- 1. USA, Monique Lamoureux (Jocelyne Lamoureux, Meghan Duggan) 9:20; 2. USA, Brianna Decker (Amanda Kessel, Hilary Knight) 10:07; 3. USA, Kessel (Kendall Coyne) 10:15; 4. USA, Knight (Kelli Stack, Julie Chu) 14:23; 5. USA, Kessel (Coyne, Decker) 15:42 (pp)

Second period -- 6. USA, M. Lamoureux (J. Lamoureux, Lee Stecklein) 13:26

Third period -- 7. USA, Coyne (Stack) :49; 8. USA, Coyne (Kessel, Megan Bozek) 3:59; 9. USA, Alex Carpenter (Josephine Pucci) 15:39

Goalie saves -- USA: Molly Schaus 6-2-2 -- 10; SWI: Florence Schelling 12-15-17 -- 44

Good Afternoon, thought I would put up a few pictures that I found on twitter today. Some good stuff out there today. Some hockey humor as well as a few Olympic pictures.

That's so hot. RT @CapitalsHill: The Kessels head to Sochi and you guessed it, here's a combo of the siblings we made pic.twitter.com/Cn7WEjvuJA
— Кевин Янг (@kevinyoung90) February 10, 2014

Doughty, Canada's blue line tops Olympic defensive rankings - http://t.co/BWeyfxcTGp pic.twitter.com/axIKyAprUP
— LA Kings (@LAKings) February 10, 2014

Best one yet! @JocelyneUSA17 @mduggan10 @moniquelam7 #triplets RT @angshult: You score,then I score,then you score! pic.twitter.com/QXuz13A4Ld
— Julie Robenhymer (@JulieRobenhymer) February 10, 2014

Acha refs...@ClubHckyProblms pic.twitter.com/dwKqZRXy7Z
— Kollen Bayko (@kollenbayko) January 25, 2014

UND Women second in the WCHA Coaches' poll

2012-13 WCHA Head Coaches’ Pre-Season Poll
Rk Team (1st place votes) Points
1 Minnesota (6) 48
2 North Dakota (1) 40
Wisconsin (1) 40
4 Minnesota Duluth 32
5 Ohio State 24
6 Bemidji State 19
7 Minnesota State 12
8 St. Cloud State 9
(Note: coaches could not vote for their own teams in the poll and points were awarded on a 7-6-5-4-3-2-1 system)

WCHA Pre-Season Player of the Year (votes)Brianna Decker, Sr., F, Wisconsin (4); Amanda Kessel, Jr., F, Minnesota (2) and Jocelyne Lamoureux, Sr., F, North Dakota (2).

WCHA Pre-Season Rookie of the Year (votes)Hannah Brandt, Fr., D, Minnesota (8).

Related articles

• Results of the 94X WCHA PRESEASON MEDIA POLL (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
• Pre-Season Predictions (by Sioux 7) (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
• WCHA 2012-13 Season Preview (insidehockey.com)
• "O Captain! My Captain!" - UND picks Mac to be captain (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
• UND's Andrew MacWilliam and Nate Ewell on the Pipeline show (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
• WCHA 2012-13 season preview (thehockeywriters.com)