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

Canada's Brianne Jenner check on USA's Josephine Pucci; Donnybrook USA and Canada

“That player (Brianne Jenner) that hit (Josephine) Pucci took her out for a season, two seasons ago,” Monique Lamoureux said. “She took a head shot at her, so were going to stick up for our teammates and were going to protect them. I think Jocelyn obviously body checked her, but I think it was clean. If you’re going to take a head shot at one of our players there’s consequences for it. Look what happened to me in Burlington (Vermont).”

“You have to protect your own players and you have to protect your own house,” USA forward Brianna Decker said.

Womens Hockey: USA and Canada line brawl

Yesterday, the USA and Canada women's team squared off in a pre-Olympic hockey game in Burlington, Vermont. During the third period, former UND All-American forward Monique Lamoureux bumped the Canadian goalie Shannon Szabados causing a skirmish. Actually, some might refer to it as a line brawl. Here's a link to the video, you can take a look for yourself. USA was unable to complete the comeback and ended up losing the game 3-2.

BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — Hayley Wickenheiser set up two goals and goalie Shannon Szabados held on after a late brawl to help Canada beat the United States 3-2 on Saturday night in the opening game of the pre-Olympic tour.

After a U.S. player clipped Szabados outside her crease with 3:03 left, all 10 skaters squared off and two from each team were charged with major penalties for roughing and game misconducts.

"We had a similar scrap in 2010, so I guess we have one every Olympic cycle to get it out of our system," said Wickenheiser who has been a member of the Canadian national team since 1993. "It was kind of fun to see, and it brought a lot of intensity to another

Team USA Women's Hockey - Bring On the World

This is a really good video that someone had posted on-line. Kind of gets your blood going for Sochi, Russia. You will notice some very familiar names in the video as well. Obviously, you have Grand Forks own, former UND Women's Hockey players Jocelyne and Monique Lamoureux... Jessica Vetter was a goaltender at Wisconsin. You will also see a few others name that are familiar as well.

Monique Lamouruex snubbed for Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award Finalist

Last week, when the list for the top-10 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award Finalists came out, missing from the missing from the list was UND senior defenseman Monique Lamoureux (25g-39a—64pts), (Grand Forks, N.D./University of North Dakota).

The top-10 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award Finalists are listed below, with their stats.

Looking at the list, I don’t know how Monique Lamoureux can be missing from this list; honestly, she is the top scoring defenseman in the country. Monique is leading the second place defenseman Megan Bozek from Minnesota by 12 points.

In case you’re wondering what the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award is, it’s the equivalent of the Women’s College Hockey Hobey Baker Memorial Award that was named after a famous woman’s college hockey player that died of a rare blood disorder.

[From the webpage]  “An award of The USA Hockey Foundation, the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award is presented annually to the top player in NCAA Division I women’s ice hockey. Other selection criteria include outstanding individual and team skills, sportsmanship, performance in the clutch, personal character, competitiveness and a love of hockey. Consideration is also given to academic achievement and civic involvement.”

Looking at these criteria, I could see Monique Lamoureux’s as a legitimate candidate for this award, based on her play on the ice, as well as her work in the class room; Monique carries a 4.0 grade point average. Unfortunately, Monique will never get a chance to find out; she never received a second nomination for the award.

Not knowing what the criteria was, I asked what takes to be nominated for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award. To be able to make the list, a player needs to be nominated by a two NCAA Division I woman’s coaches.

Wait, what? You mean to tell me, there isn’t a single second coach, in the WCHA, or in all of Division I women’s hockey, that didn’t noticed Monique Lamoureux racking up 64 points from the blue line this season, the same defenseman that is number two all-time for scoring in the WCHA. It just doesn’t seem right to me. This is also the same defenseman that somehow only able to make all-WCHA Second Team last year, leaving UND fans to scratch their head on that snub as well.

Breaking it down further, Jocelyn and Monique Lamoureux are ranked 1-2 all-time in the WCHA for points Jocelyne Lamoureux (125g-158a—284pts) and Monique Lamoureux (112g-152a—264Pts). On Saturday, with her (2g-4a—6pts) Monique also passed former Wisconsin Badgers forward Hillary Knight (143g-119a—262pts).

In closing, people will wonder, why do I care? I care because I want to see people that deserve to be recognized, receive the recognition that they deserve, nothing more, nothing less.
The Top-10 Patty Kazmaier finalists include:

1. Senior defenseman Megan Bozek (18g-34a—52pts), (Buffalo Grove, Ill./University of Minnesota).

2. Freshman forward Hannah Brandt (29g-48a—77pts), (Vadnais Heights, Minn./University of Minnesota).

3. Sophomore forward Alex Carpenter (31g-37a—68pts), (Reading, Mass./Boston College).

4. Sophomore forward Kendall Coyne (35g-30a—65pts), (Palos Heights, Ill./Northeastern University).

5. Senior forward Brianna Decker (29g-26a—55pts), (Dousman, Wis./University of Wisconsin).

6. Senior forward Jillian Dempsey (23g-20a—43pts), (Winthrop, Mass./Harvard University).

7. Junior forward Brianne Jenner (32a-31a—63pts), (Oakville, Ont./Cornell University).

8. Junior forward Amanda Kessel (43g-51a—94pts), (Madison, Wis./University of Minnesota.

9. Senior forward Jocelyne Lamoureux (35g-44a—79pts), (Grand Forks, N.D./University of North Dakota).

10. Senior goaltender Noora Raty (33-0-0, 0.92 GAA , save percentage .956, 15 shutouts. (Espoo, Finland/University of Minnesota

Cross-posted at Inside Hockey

Related articles

• Lamoureux Twins Leave UND in Good Hands (insidehockey.com)
• Lamoureux Sisters Lasso Mavericks (insidehockey.com)
• Lamoureux Snubbed for Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award (insidehockey.com)

UND vs. MSU WCHA Playoffs game two

UND Forward Lines

91 Ashley Furia —17 Jocelyne Lamoureux (C) —19 Meghan Dufault

3 Michelle Karvinen (A) — 63 Josefine Jakobsen—2 Mary Loken

10 Andrea Dalen ­—51 Becca Kohler— 15 Megan Gilbert

6 Allison Parizek –– 11 Shannon Kaiser —13 Layla Marvin

UND Defense Pairings

4 Sam LaShomb — 18 Monique Lamoureux (A)

22 Tanja Esenschmid – 8 Samantha Hanson

7 Jordan Slavin – 16 Tori Williams

UND goalies

1 –Shelby Amsley-Benzie

30 Jorid Dagfinrud

Minnesota State Maverick Forward Lines

15 Tracy McCann – 25 Lauren Smith (A) –13 Kathleen Rogan

18 Nicole Germaine—26 Kari Lundberg (C) –11 Natalie Stoltz

3 Lauren Zrust –23 Melissa Klippenstein – 29 Casy Hirsch

21 Haley Northcote – 16 Lindsay Nagel – 10 Katie Johnson

Minnesota State Defensive Pairings

20 Emilia Anderson – 28 Danielle Scholzen

14 Erika Magnusson – 5 Lauren Barnes

27 Shelby Moteyunas – Giulianna Pallotta

Minnesota State Goalies

33 Erin Krichiver

37 Danielle Butter

30 Brianna Quade

United States forward Jocelyne Lamoureux in a game against the ECAC All-Stars on January 3, 2010. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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Monique Lamoureux WCHA Defensive player of the week.

WCHA Defensive Player of the Week

Monique Lamoureux • Senior, Defenseman, University of North Dakota

MADISON, Wis. – For the second straight time, the University of North Dakota’s Monique Lamoureux has been named the WCHA Women’s Defensive Player of the Week, this time for her two-way contributions in a two-game league sweep over visiting Minnesota Duluth over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Lamoureux was named WCHA co-Defensive Player of the Week on Nov. 20.

A senior from Grand Forks, N.D., Lamoureux was a force at both ends of the ice against the visiting Bulldogs, contributing five goals – including both game-winners – and helping lead a strong defensive effort that held UMD to just one power-play goal in 10 series opportunities and saw her block six shots. In North Dakota’s 4-3 (ot) win last Friday (Nov. 23), Lamoureux scored a pair of goals, including the winner at 3:08 of the extra session, had eight shots on goal and earned the First Star of the Game award. She followed up that effort on Saturday (Nov. 24) with a three-goal hat trick in a 5-2 UND triumph, again notching the game-winner, putting six more shots on goal and again being named the First Star.

Through 14 games this season for No. 8-ranked UND (9-5-0), Lamoureux has contributed 19 points (9g, 10a) to up her collegiate career totals to 219 points on 96 goals and 123 assists in 124 games.

Also nominated: Ivana Bilic, D, BSU; Amanda Leveille, G, UM; Audrey Hanmer, D, SCSU; Saige Pacholok, D, UW.

Monique Lamoureux - WCHA Defensive Player of the Week

A pair of veteran defensemen – Megan Bozek of the University of Minnesota and Monique Lamoureux of the University of North Dakota – have been named the WCHA Women's co-Defensive Players of the Week for Nov. 20. 

Lamoureux, a senior from Grand Forks, N.D., led the North Dakota defense with a four-point weekend in two WCHA victories over Bemidji State on Nov. 17-18. She topped the team with a +7 plus/minus rating, placed nine shots on goal, and scored three goals, including a power-play tally, and one assist in the 3-1 and 7-3 victories at BSU. She was named the Second Star of the Game last Sunday and now has collegiate career totals of 91 goals, 123 assists and 214 points in 122 games played.

Also nominated: Jessica Wong, D; UMD; Kari Schmitt, D, OSU.

Wednesday UND Women’s Hockey press conference

This week the UND Woman’s hockey team plays against the top ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers at the Ralph Englestad Arena. Game times for Saturday and Sunday is 2:07 PM CT. On Saturday it's "Fill the Bowl and tickets to the game are $1.00 and if you have  a UND Champions Card you can get a free ticket to get into the game.

UND Women's Hockey head coach Brian Idalski on playing the top rated Minnesota Gophers.  

“They’re [Minnesota] averaging just under seven goals per game,” Idalski said. “Their power play has scored 17 goals and clicking at 40 percent, so I would say that things are going really well for them. Defensively they’re just as solid if not better. [Noora] Ratty has four shutout in seven starts and her save percentage is close to 98%, so there is no weakness, their d-corps is really strong they have given up three goals all season long. It will be fun.”

UND Women’s head coach Brian Idalski on the status of his star forward Michelle Karvinen who has missed all six games that UND has played in this season with an injury.

“She looks good, Idalski said. "She skated well and she is progressing well and she will be a game time decision.”

Senior forward Captain Jocelyn Lamoureux was asked about playing the Minnesota Gophers and if there is a little extra incentive playing against the Gophers. 

“It’s exciting to always play them especially with my history, but you have to approach it like any other series, Lamoureux said. “We have to stay even keel and not let our emotions get the best of us the last series and we get to play them here and we’re excited.” 

The past few seasons the amount of penalties that UND takes has been a something that UND has been concerned about. Senior Jocelyn Lamoureux was also asked about her if her team is focused on eliminating penalties this week.

“I don’t know if it’s the topic this week in the practice, Lamoureux said. “But we know we need to that we need to stay out of the penalty box more and we can’t take as many penalties as we have been and that seem to be a common theme the last couple of years the amount of penalties our team takes its starts with Monique [Lamoureux]  and I and the seniors down... “

Senior defenseman Jordan Slavin was injured last season and only was able to play in 14 games. Last season, Slavin missed both series against the Minnesota Gophers. 

“It’s been fun; it’s been a lot of fun just being back out there with the girls and being able to play,” Slavin said. “Once you like... don’t have something and then you get it back it’s been an unbelievable experience.” 

Slavin was asked if she feels like is back to full strength. 

Yeah I do, I feel really good, my edges feel great and my knees aren’t giving men any problems this time around.

Slavin also had this to say about getting a chance to play against the top ranked Minnesota Gophers after not playing in any of the series last year against the Gophers because of injury. 

"I didn’t get to play them at all last year, Slavin said. "It’s more fun than any series that I think we play during the year. Just the intensity is up, the speed is up, everything is sharp, the atmosphere is fun, I am excited."  

UND Women’s Hockey the day after

From Sioux Sports this morning on the UND Women’s Hockey team losing a two goal lead and the game against the MSUM Mavericks… @pucknut9 on last night’s loss, “looks like the women have been reading too many headlines as they lose 3-2 to MSU.” Mea Culpa.  

Also, another good point from @pucknut9 “hell of a comeback for sure, I mean give credit where credit is due instead of some of these posters blaming the refs.”

Good words of advice from a guy that I have a lot of respect for – winners will look answers and not excuses… In this case the UND women will regroup and make the proper adjustments and you didn't hear any excuses last night for their performance.

I am not going to kid anyone – I have to admit that I thought the officiating was questionable at times myself, someone from my twitter account might have tweeted something along those lines as well last night.

But I digress.

I don’t think the officiating is the reason the UND women lost the game last night… I blame a plethora of things… I saw young players try to force pucks in instances where later in the season they wouldn’t make that pass. There also many opportunities in the blue paint and in the slot that weren’t capitalized on.

When the refs are calling the game tight last night – what’s new?  It’s the player’s responsibility to make adjustments to how the game is called – that didn’t happened last night.

Also, the MSUM defenders were relentless and this was actually the first time that I have ever seen the “trap” played at a women’s game – the Mavericks were miserable team to play against.

Let’s give credit where credit is due the Mavericks got into the shooting zones – pressured the defenseman and their goaltender Danielle Butters was very good and made the big saves and stopping 18 out of 20 shots and she was big late in the game when she had to be… Luck was also on her side and one of the twins had her beat glove side late in the game only to see it puck clank off of the iron.

I can tell you based on the head coaches’ body language and by his comments last night during the postgame conference that Brian Idalski was “less” than pleased about his team’s play during their game.

“I thought we were a little sloppy and I thought we were way too cute and down the stretch we made some poor decision defensively that ending up costing us pretty big,”

I don’t think that any of us are worried though because Brian Idalski is a good hockey coach and he will make adjustments and I expect the team to be much better this afternoon against the Mavericks.

There were some positive points to take out of last night’s game.

Freshman forward Becca Kohler from St. Thomas Ontario is going to be a big time forward and she showed glimpses of greatness.

Freshman goalie Shelby Amsley-Benzie was very good in her debut and I predict that we will see her again between the pipes very soon.

Freshman Leah Jensen didn’t look out of place and seemed to do well in the pressure position playing on the wing with Jocelyne and Monique Lamoureux.

Minnesota State slips past North Dakota 3-2

Grand Forks, ND – “I thought we were a little sloppy and I thought we were way too cute and down the stretch we made some poor decision defensively that ending up costing us pretty big,” UND head coach Brian Idalski on tonight’s game.

Coming into this season, there is a lot of positive energy surrounding the UND women’s hockey team based on the personnel they have coming back and some of the new recruits they have coming in.on’s post season run that included their first ever bid to the NCAA tourney. UND would go on to lose their quarterfinal game to Minnesota Gophers who would end up being the national champion.

UND has aspirations of hanging a banner of their own this season – “the ultimate goal is to put a national championship banner up in our rink,” Monique Lamoureux said during an interview on UND hockey media day.

While it’s probably too early to be about thinking about hanging banners and there is a lot of hockey to be played – the future for UND looks bright – UND will have to play more disciplined hockey if they’re going to be successful this season.

Tonight, UND came out of the gates with a lot of energy and definitely had the upper hand in play against the Mavericks during the first period taking a 1-0 lead in to the locker room after one period with a highlight reel goal by Jocelyn Lamoureux.

UND also led in the shots after one period of hockey outshooting the Mavericks 8-3 and could have had more goals but Mavericks Junior goalie Danielle Butters shut UND down.

UND took a 2-0 lead during the second period with a goal by Andrea Dalen at the 2:48 mark – that was all of the scoring that UND would get as Butters shut the door the rest of the way.

“Butters played well,” Idalski said. I thought for most of the night especially that second [period] we made her job real easy and she saw a lot of things and if she can see it she can save.”

One thing UND wanted to limit this season is the amount of penalties that they take as a team – unfortunately they started a parade to the penalty box during the second period when they took four minor for eight minutes in penalties.

That march to the penalty box continued during the third period as UND continued to take more undisciplined penalties and ended up squandering a 2 goal lead giving up three unanswered goals in about a 10 minute time period.  Minnesota State senior Lauren Smith paced the Mavericks with two goals during the third period scoring on the power play and even strength.

While Butters paced the Mavericks with 16 saves – on the other end of the ice a rookie goalie Shelby Amsley-Benzie was making her first career start UND but wasn’t able to get the win for despite making 20 saves, many  of them difficult and during the latter half of the game when the Mavericks were pressing.

When asked about his rookie goalie's effort the head coach had this to say, “quite honestly I thought Shelby was going to get the shutout,” Idalski said.

"She was playing really well and she kind of held us in there through the second, unfortunately I thought she deserved a little fate than what we gave her down the stretch.”

UND captain Jocelyne Lamoureux agreed with the head coaches’ comments, “she played good and she made some big saves when it was 1-0.”

Mankato would score three unanswered goals in the third period to ice the game, spoiling UND’s home opener.

The same two teams play tomorrow at 2:07 PM

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UND women's hockey; ready to make an impact nationally

United States forward Jocelyne Lamoureux in a game against the ECAC All-Stars on January 3, 2010. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Today, I attended the UND Hockey media luncheon and press event that followed and I was able to interview a few of the UND Women’s hockey players today.  

Here is what the Lamoureux twins Monique and Jocelyne had to say about the upcoming season.

I did learn a valuable lesson today, if you don’t turn your recorder on you end up interviewing the same player twice. I am also grateful, that Monique Lamoureux is a patient person.  

I asked UND Senior forward/defenseman Monique Lamoureux about her expectations for the upcoming season. 

“The ultimate goal is to put a national championship banner up in our rink,” Monique said. 

“Jocelyne [Lamoureux] and I were looking it up earlier and I think today is the first official day of practice… the tradition here goes really deep with our family and I think that our brothers and our dad have been a part of 10 championships, whether it’s a McNaughton cup, a WCHA Final Five, or a national championship. For us it’s something that we really want to add to our family. We want to start a tradition on the woman’s side.”

On being the last of the Lamoureux’s to go through the UND hockey program.

“It’s bitter sweet being the last ones not having a brother here after having one playing on the team for the last eight years,” Monique said.  “It’s little weird not seeing your brothers around the rink as much but we’re excited for this year and we’re hoping to accomplish some great things.”

I asked UND Senior forward Jocelyne Lamoureux about her expectations for the upcoming season.

“Just want to make history for this program and the ultimate goal is obviously to win a national championship as is with every other team in the NCAA but that’s the goal this year more than any other year since I’ve been here,” Jocelyne said. 

“I think we have the potential to do it; it’s just a matter of putting the pieces of the puzzle together.”

Jocelyne was asked about being the last two of Lamoureux’s to go through the UND Hockey program. 

“Yeah it’s bitter sweet and we have some emotional moments,” Jocelyne said. 

“Our brother took off last week for the east coast just knowing we’re the last ones here we’re the last ones to try and add to the tradition for our program and for our family and to have the opportunity this year again and we’re excited and we want to make the most of it. Just keep adding and staring a new tradition with the woman’s program.”

Caption?

@jocelamoureux17 has made it everyone.Not everyone can make the front page of the gf herald for wearing a costume. twitter.com/moniquelam7/st…
— Monique Lamoureux (@moniquelam7) September 7, 2012

Here was a picture of UND Women's Hockey forward/defense Monique Lamoureux... What's your captions?