Emma Polusny stopped 34 of 35 in Leksands loss, but it wasn't enough for a team that has not scored since December 6.
Emma Polusny stopped 34 of 35 in Leksands loss, but it wasn't enough for a team that has not scored since December 6.
Here's a look at Friday's SDHL action:
Linköping 1 - Leksand 0
The first period was scoreless, but only because of the stellar play of Leksand’s goaltender Emma Polusny. Polusny faced no fewer than 16 shots in the opening frame, while her team managed only four against Linköping’s Ebba Svensson Träff. Seemingly no goalie in the SDHL has earned more karma this season, and none has had less goal support. Polusny battles night in and night out, and has kept many of her team’s games closer than they should have been, but the Hockey Gods refuse to reward her with victories. Leksand simply does not score enough goals to win games, even when Polusny puts in her now-expected Herculean effort. This game was no different, as the American keeper stopped 21 shots before finally being beaten by Felicia Levin on the power play with just over five minutes remaining in the second period. Levin received a pass from defender Ayaka Hitosato before she curled over the top of the right circle and flung a wrist shot on net through traffic to put Linköping up 1-0. In the third period, more Polusny heroics as she denied an Olivia Sohrner penalty shot to keep Leksand within reach. In the end, all the Polusny in the world was not enough as Leksand was shutout for the fourth straight game. On the other end of the rink, Svensson Träff earned her league-leading seventh shutout of the season as she saved all 23 shots she faced.
SDE 3 - Djurgården 1
Both teams looked refreshed after the brief holiday break, and fans were treated to a back-and-forth first period that produced a pair of pretty goals. First, SDE defender Emma Bergesen scored on a crisp give-and-go with forward Michelle Löwenhielm to make it 1-0. Towards the end of the frame, after multiple quality chances at either end, Löwenhielm added a highlight reel goal of her own when she shot the puck from between her legs on the doorstep to beat Djurgården goalie Ida Boman up high, making the score to 2-0 SDE.
In the second period, young Czech phenom Tereza Plosová brought DIF within one when she out-muscled SDE’s defence and buried a rebound past goaltender Kassidy Sauvé. DIF continued to press for the equaliser in the third period, but it was instead SDE’s Mimmi Gill who lit the lamp, putting her team up 3-1, the score by which they would eventually win. SDE played perhaps their most cohesive and cooperative game of the season, and will undoubtably climb the league rankings in the coming weeks if they can continue to play so well together.