Abstreiter’s .929 save percentage helps Germany to four wins

Article content

When PWHL Ottawa backup Sandra Abstreiter found out she had been named the best goalie at the Women’s World Hockey Championship in Utica, the news came with no handshake, trophy or bouquet of flowers.

Article content

It didn’t even come from the IIHF.

Article content

No, Abstreiter was 300 kilometres away when she learned of the honour from Jincy Roese, a teammate on her pro team.

“I wasn’t really expecting it,” said the 25-year-old who, along with one shutout and a .929 save percentage over six games, was also named one of Germany’s top three in players in a coaches poll. “It was kind of funny how I found out, because I was already back in Ottawa, and Jincy was actually in Utica to watch her sister (Joy Dunne play for Team USA) in the gold medal game, and when they announced it, she texted me. I had no idea. Jincy was like, ‘I’m so sorry, I just spoiled this for you,’ and I was like, ‘Oh, this is totally fine.’ ”

The Germans finished sixth and will remain in Pool B, but they had a positive showing, winning all four preliminary-round games for the first time ever before losing 1-0 to the Czechia team coached by PWHL Ottawa bench boss Carla MacLeod.

Article content

“Overall, my experience was amazing at the worlds this year,” said Abstreiter. “Obviously, our last game we lost, so that was not the result we wanted. It was kind of devastating a little bit. But now taking a little bit of a break and looking at the overall picture, we did really well, I think, and yeah, I mean, it is an honour to get that award. I just had a really, really great team this year that supported me in every way, starting from like the staff to everyone at home. Everyone was just behind us, and that just helped me a lot.”

So has the time she has spent with PWHL Ottawa, even though Abstreiter has played in just three games while Emerance Maschmeyer has had the bulk of the work.

“I don’t want to say I played the best hockey of my life, because I think I still have potential to do better,” said Abstreiter, a 12th-round pick of Ottawa’s in the PWHL draft. “But I think it was definitely some of my best games, and I think like this first part of the season here obviously helped me prepare for it a lot. I think every single practice here has prepared me so well, and I was just able to execute on that.”

Article content

All six Ottawa players in the gold medal game — Ashton Bell, Emily Clark, Brianne Jenner and Maschmeyer from the victorious Canadian side and Savannah Harmon and Hayley Scamurra from Team USA — will rejoin their PWHL team for Thursday’s practice.

Their coach was back a day before them.

MacLeod was behind the Czechia bench at the worlds for just the third time and fell short of winning a third consecutive bronze. But despite the 3-2 shootout loss to Finland, people believe this fourth-place-finishing Czechia team was better than the last two.

“We’ve accomplished a lot in a short period of time,” said MacLeod.

The tournament as a whole was a very positive experience, she added.

“It was fantastic, super competitive,” said MacLeod. “Obviously, I thought our crew that was there, the Ottawa crew, had impact in the games, and it was great to see Sandie named the best goalie in the tournament. She challenged us in the quarter-finals. I kind of smiled and said, ‘Well done, kid.’ And then to watch all the girls compete, (Akane) Shiga helps Japan avoid relegation there, which was hugely important for them. Then you watch the North American crew, they battle it out there in that back-and-forth gold-medal game, it’s just pretty fun.”

Article content

It’s no surprise that while she was focused on her Czechia team, MacLeod was also rooting for her Ottawa team — the individuals she coaches in the PWHL who were representing their counties.

“I’m in this business because I like the people and you can’t ever overlook that,” she said. “So these are girls and whatever country they’re representing, whatever team they’re representing, I’m just proud that they’re there. I want them all to do well. The nice thing is they want us to do well with Czech, too. And so yeah, you’re always gonna be competitive on the ice, you’re gonna try to win the hockey game. That’s the industry. But you never lose sight of who the person is. And I was really proud of them.”

With the three-and-a-half-week break over, PWHL action resumes Thursday when Toronto is in Boston and Minnesota travels to Montreal.

Article content

Ottawa returns for a Saturday (7 p.m.) home game against Minnesota with the intent of tightening its hold on the fourth and final playoff spot.

All teams have five games left, and Ottawa has a five-point lead on Boston, but also trails Montreal by just four points.

In a league that rewards the winning team with three points, even Minnesota (35 points) and Toronto (36) might not be out of reach.

“For us coming back, it’s just settling back into where we left off prior to breaking for the world championship,” said MacLeod. “With this group, you can feel the energy building, you can feel the confidence building. The five games left is really exciting for everyone because it’s a free-for-all still, there’s a lot of points on the table. We had a great five-game phase going into the break, and now we got to come out and have another great five-game phase.”

dbrennan@postmedia.com

Article content