SDHL: Stephanie Neatby continues to star, Plosova is headed to Minnesota, and where is Cami Kronish?
SDHL: Stephanie Neatby continues to star, Plosova is headed to Minnesota, and where is Cami Kronish?
Stephanie Neatby has been the SDHL's best goaltender to open the 2023-2024 season, and she proved that statement true yet again grabbing a 40 save shutout for Frolunda this weekend.
Not only did Neatby shut the door for Frolunda, who is in their first ever season in the SDHL, but she did it against Brynas, perennially one of Sweden's top two teams.
Neatby and Brynas' Klara Peslarova went save for save throughout regulation ending with a 0-0 tie, which is how the teams sat after overtime. In the shootout, Finnish star Michelle Karvinen broke the deadlock lifting Frolunda to the win, while Neatby shut the door at the other end.
Neatby won the SDHL's Goaltender of the Year award in 2021 following a four year career at Princeton. Still only 25, the six-foot netminder won silver in 2016 for Canada's U-18 team.
Plosova Commits But Djurgardens Falls
Linkoping beat Djurgardens 4-1, but the news of the day from these teams was the NCAA commitment of Djurgardens forward Tereza Plosova to the University of Minnesota. Plosova, 17, is in her first season playing in Sweden, but the Czech is no stranger to elite competition. The 5-foot-9 forward made her senior national team debut winning a bronze medal at the 2023 World Championships with Czechia. At the 2022 U-18 tournament Plosova lead the tournament in scoring with 10 points in five games.
Lulea Pelts AIK, Kronish Gone?
Lulea pelted AIK, posting a 26-0 shot differential in the first period alone, eventually winning 10-1. Petra Nieminen, Viivi Vainikka and Astrid Lindberg each had a goal and three assists to lead the way for the defending champs, but it was the continued absence of a difference maker in AIK's net that remained the story. Cami Kronish, a University of Wisconsin standout from last season, signed this offseason with AIK, but has only appeared in one game with the team this year. More notably, Kronish appeared on PWHL Boston's training camp invite list. While she would be unlikely to get many, if any, games behind Aerin Frankel and Emma Soderberg, Kronish will likely want to stay in North America this year after being added to Team USA's national team pool, including as one of the netminders expected to take part in the Rivalry Series. Without Kronish, AIK has been relying on Norwegian netminder Linnea Holterud Olsson, but AIK's roster up front is too leaky without a star in net.