Goalie Clashes Highlight Sunday's SDHL Action

It was a Sunday funday for goalie fans as Camryn Drever and Kassidy Sauvé, Viktorie Švejdová and Ida Boman clashed in a pair of shootouts in the SDHL. Here's a look at the action.

SDE came out firing on all cylinders, dominating possession and scoring chances in the first period. It was Skellefteå, however, that opened the scoring when Marah Wagner forced an SDE turnover and shovelled the puck to Ellen Lövgren who went in alone on SDE goalie Kassidy Sauvé, freezing her with a stutter step and snapping the puck glove side.

SDE’s Lisa Johansson levelled the score at one apiece when she shot home a Michelle Löwenhielm feed midway through the second period. Skellefteå spent much of the frame hemmed into their own zone, their patient defending a stark contrast to SDE’s quick, sometimes flashy attack. Despite her team being outshot 17-3 in the second period, Skellefteå’s goaltender Camryn Drever was up for the challenge. Drever made difficult saves look routine, and robbed Emily Nix from in close as time wound down. The third period was more of the same: Skellefteå and Drever patiently absorbed the SDE attack, transitioned quickly when given the chance, and created multiple excellent chances of their own. SDE’s Kassidy Sauvé made a number of key stops late to force overtime. Extra time solved nothing and the game headed to a shootout where fans were treated to seven rounds of perfect goaltending. SDE’s shooters went blocker side for six of their first seven attempts, and Drever shut the door. Skellefteå’s shooters were much less predictable, but Sauvé calmly turned them all away. Drever finally surrendered a goal between the wickets in Round 8 to the home squad’s Kayleigh Hamers, giving SDE the win.

Luleå entered the game sporting the league’s best power play — they have a 42% success rate on the advantage this season, scoring 9 goals in only 21 attempts. Luleå’s special teams, perhaps fittingly, accounted for all of their scoring this game. Akane Shiga and Viivi Vainikka notched power play goals less than a minute apart in the first period, and Emma Nordin potted a shorthanded marker seconds before the buzzer to give Luleå a comfortable 3-0 lead heading into the first intermission. Leksand pushed back in the second, when former University of New Brunswick forward Lillian George scored her first SDHL goal. In the third period, Leksand’s goalie Emma Polusny gave her team a chance, and teammate Saga Tynell Nissas scored late, but Luleå hung on for the win, which jumped them to second place in the league standings (ahead of MoDo, who have a game in hand).

In a meeting of two teams still looking for their identities after the loss of key players and the addition of others in the off season, DIF got on the board first when a quick snap shot by captain Brette Pettet beat HV71’s Viktorie Švejdová short side. Early in the second period, HV’s Jenna Raunio finished a pretty passing play to knot the score at one apiece. Each team showed flashes of potential — Djurgården’s young power forward and 2025 University of Minnesota commit Tereza Plosová created chances with her speed and reach, while HV’s pint-sized fireplug Kennedy Bobyck made something happen every time she touched the ice. Ida Boman was once again stellar for Djurgården between the pipes, but she desperately needs, and perhaps deserves, goal support. Her team has averaged less than one goal scored per game so far this season. DIF looked to have taken a late lead when a bad angle shot got past HV71’s Švejdová, but the play was reviewed and it was determined that the puck did not cross the goal line. For the second time today, fans would see a game decided by a shootout. In the third round, HV71 captain Elin Svensson scored five hole on Boman to seal the victory. Both teams will need to solve their scoring woes soon if they hope to climb out of the league’s basement.