Canadian Emily Clark (26) tries to slow down American Abby Roque (11) during a preliminary match … [+]
As 2022 draws to a close, another Olympic or “quadruple” cycle begins for female ice hockey players in North America. The United States fell to Canada 3-2 in the gold medal game at the Beijing Winter Olympics and again 2-1 at the 2022 Women’s World Championships in Denmark. exhibition tour between the two best women’s programs in the world.
The United States is 3-0 going into tonight’s game in Henderson, Nevada. The last victory for the United States took place at the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, home of the NHL’s newest team, the Seattle Kraken. A record-breaking crowd of 14,551 hockey fans filled the CPA and earned a 4-2 victory over the United States.
“It was an amazing experience,” American striker Abby Roque told me in a phone conversation after practice yesterday. “The City of Seattle has done a great job of getting behind us and really supporting women’s sports in general. I think this city is doing a great job,” added Roque.
The center gets top minutes alongside United States captain Kendall Coyne Schofield and Amanda Kessel in Seattle. She scored the second goal for the United States on the power play in the November 20 win over Canada. Then, less than four minutes later, American hockey veteran Hilary Knight scored the game-winning goal, her first of two in Seattle.
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON – NOVEMBER 20: Abby Roque #11 of Team USA celebrates her goal during … [+]
Roque has one goal and one assist in the three-game series. After being limited by injuries just before her first Olympics, she’s back on the ice feeling healthy and ready to compete for a consistent role on the United States Senior National Team.
“I want to constantly improve and (prepare) for this series, for the next series and hopefully for Worlds at the end of this year. That’s what we’re really working towards, and I think As long as we keep adding little building blocks as we go and improving this team, we’ll just be in a great place,” Roque said.
New head coach John Wroblewski agrees. “There’s a list of things that we call our principles, and those are the micro-level things,” he told me in a phone call Tuesday afternoon.
USA Hockey announced Wroblewski as its new women’s head coach in May, two months before the 2022 IIHF World Championships in Denmark. He spent years in USA Hockey’s developmental system and four years as the AHL’s bench manager for the Ontario Reign. Wroblewski told me he spent the first few months on the job listening and learning from the players. He asked what his players wanted to strengthen and what they thought were areas for improvement or shortcomings over the last quad cycle.
After that, the staff have developed their principles and work diligently to execute them on a daily basis.
“It’s how hard you work away from the pockets. It’s how diligent you are with body position at every opportunity. It’s your ability to end games…those are the things we really try to stick to at the end of the day.
After three exhibition games against the United States, the Canadian women’s hockey team finds itself with an 0-3 record in the 2022-23 #RivlarySeries. Roque and Wroblewski expect Canada to be ready to rock the ice in the final two games of the series before the New Year.
“They’re going to have an answer for us, not just some of the things that we changed systematically, but the intensity that we brought to those matches in November,” Wroblewski said.
USA Hockey announced Wroblewski as its new women’s head coach in May, two months before the 2022 IIHF World Championships in Denmark. He spent the first few months listening and learning from his players. He asked what his players wanted to strengthen and what they thought were areas for improvement or shortcomings over the last quad cycle.
After that, the staff developed their principles and worked diligently to execute them daily.
“It’s how hard you work away from the pockets. It’s how diligent you are with your body position at every opportunity. It’s your ability to finish games…those are the things we really try to stick to at the end of the day.
After three exhibition games against the United States, the Canadian women’s hockey team finds itself with an 0-3 record in the 2022-23 #RivlarySeries. However, Roque and Wroblewski expect Canada to be ready to rock the ice in the final two games of the series before the new year.
“They’re going to have an answer for us, not just some of the things that we changed systematically, but the intensity that we brought to those matches in November,” Wroblewski said.
Canada’s Marie-Philip Poulin (left) and USA’s Abby Roque battle for the puck during the … [+]
His system demands a high hockey IQ and trusts players to make the right decisions at the right time. And, of course, USA will always play a quick, skillful and physical game.
The mix of freedom and discipline should bode well for a powerful skater like Roque. According to Seattle Kraken reporter and studio analyst Alison Lukan, twenty percent of his shots have rebounds. His two points in the first three games came from the best power play unit, which includes Conye Schofield, Kessel, Megan Keller and Jincey Dunne.
“We have a lot of talented players, and (the coach) is going to have some structure while giving us the freedom to be able to be creative to show some skills to make plays,” Roque told me.
“That’s the most important thing we have, it’s people who are capable of doing a lot of great things on this roster. It’s something huge and it’s going to make hockey even better.”
You can watch Roque and Team USA take on Team Canada at the Dollar Loan Center in Henderson, Nevada and on Monday at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California. Both games will air at 10 p.m. ET on NHL Network.