Welcome to the SDHL: Luleå Ruins Fryer Debut

Luleå continued to pad their placement atop the SDHL in Sunday's action. Here's a look at each of yesterday's SDHL games.

It was trial by fire for newly acquired SDE goalie Erica Fryer, who made her first-ever professional start against the league’s most fearsome offense. Fryer, who came to the SDHL after a stellar career at the University of Toronto (USports), turned away all eleven Luleå shots sent her way in the first period, while teammate Dominique Kremer scored the game’s opening goal to send their team into the first intermission up 1-0. Luleå was not behind for long; their aggressive forecheck succeeded in forcing an SDE turnover, and Jaycee Magwood sniped the tying goal between Fryer’s pads. Minutes later, Nadia Mattivi hammered in a shot from the point to give Luleå a lead that they would never relinquish. The athletic Fryer did an admirable job between the pipes, and made a series of athletic saves to keep the game close for a time, but SDE was simply outclassed by Luleå’s stellar play. In the third period, Emma Nordin, Camryn Wong, Viivi Vainikka and Tilde Sjödin scored and the game ended 6-1. Sara Grahn made 27 saves for the win. Luleå defender Nadia Mattivi recorded a goal and two assists. As the playoffs approach, Luleå, winners of six straight, are in championship form.

Leksand’s difficult season continues. Today’s loss to Skellefteå was the team’s fourteenth in a row. In that span, they have been shutout an unfathomable nine times and have scored a meagre seven goals. Their last win was in November. The interesting thing, perhaps the silver lining, is that they manage to keep most games fairly close. They have, for the most part, gotten good goaltending from their duo of Emma Polusny and Ellen Jonsson. But goals have been few and far between. Their top scorers, Saga Tynell-Nissas, Hilda Ljungberg and Ida Press are tied with nine points each — nine points each over the entire season. Leksand will play in the relegation round, that is certain. Their ability to survive that round is most certainly in question. Their scoring woes continued on Sunday afternoon as they were shutout again, this time by Camryn Drever and Skellefteå. SKE’s Nicoline Søndergaard Jensen opened the scoring with a first period power play rebound. In the second period, teammate Ida Kuoppala added to the lead when she finished off a breakaway by coldly freezing Polusny with a stick fake before depositing the puck in the back of the net. Minutes later, Ellen Lövgren found the puck during a goalmouth scramble and snapped it home to give Skellefteå a comfortable three goal lead. Drever shut the door the rest of the way as Leksand limped to yet another shutout loss. Aino Karppinen tallied two assists for the victors.

Djurgården entered the game desperate for a win, having dropped six straight dating back to December 28. While they sit a comfortable ten points ahead of HV71 in the standings and will certainly make the playoffs, the team hopes to climb to a better position to avoid a first round meeting with juggernaut Luleå. DIF got the job done on Sunday, outplaying HV71 en route to a solid 4-0 win. Czech forward Linda Vocetkova, fresh off an excellent performance at the U18 World Championships, potted two goals. DIF captain Brette Pettet tallied three assists and goalie Ida Boman stopped all 16 HV shots for the clean sheet, her third shutout of the year. The win allowed Djurgården to stay in seventh place, two points ahead of Skellefteå with four games remaining in the season.