Team USA dropped a 2-1 decision in a shootout to Team Canada at the PHF All-Star festival Sunday in Toronto. (Lori Bolliger photo courtesy of PHF)
Five Connecticut Whale players participated in Sunday’s Premier Hockey Federation All-Star festival in Toronto with Connecticut’s Kennedy Marchant and Team Canada winning the round-robin tournament with a 3-2 win over Team World at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.
Jade Downie-Landry of the Montreal Force broke the 2-2 tie with the winning goal inside the game’s final three minutes. Boston’s Loren Gabel earned MVP honors with three goals and one assist over three tournament games, including a goal and an assist in the final.
Connecticut’s Kateřina Mrázová and Lenka Serdar were on Team World with Whale teammates Taylor Girard and Abby Ives on Team USA. Mrázová was the captain of Team World.
The three round-robin games were 14 minute periods of 4-on-4 hockey with the final game extended to 18 minutes in length.
Team Canada beat the U.S. in the first game, 2-1 in a shootout before Team World beat Canada in game two, 2-1. Team World earned a spot in the final with a 3-2 win over Team USA.
Ives had 10 saves in Team USA’s game against Canada and had seven saves in the game against Team World. Girard had a goal against Team World that cut a two-goal deficit to one.
“It’s truly an amazing experience to be here amongst some really amazing players and some of the coaches on the bench who had such amazing careers,” Gabel said.
Connecticut had five All-Star games at the PHF’s All-Star festival in Toronto. Back row from left, Abby Ives, Kennedy Marchment and Taylor Girard. Front row, Lenka Serdar, left and Kateřina Mrázová. (Lori Bolliger photo courtesy PHF)
Gabel currently leads the PHF in scoring with 24 points in 13 games, one ahead of Toronto’s Brittany Howard who also had a goal and an assist in the final contest and finished with four points overall. Boston goaltender Corinne Schroeder continued her strong play between-the-pipes in her first PHF season, earning the decisive victory to claim the event’s most outstanding goaltender award.
Another one of the night’s top performers was Riveters forward Fanni Gasparics who led the tournament with four goals in three games. The Hungarian star scored a hat-trick to lead Team World to a 3-2 victory over Team USA, then netted the first goal of the final.
“I think this was one of the best hockey weekends of my life. I am going to remember it for a long, long time,” Gasparics said. “Coming to the PHF from a very small league in Hungary to make my team and family proud and coming here to meet hockey players from all over the world – U.S., Canada, and my team. Our goal for this weekend was to show the world that Europe can beat the U.S. and Canada and we did that in the first two games. I am so proud of my team and it feels really good to be part of this All-Star weekend.”
The game was played in what used to be called Maple Leaf Gardens, the former home of the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs, who played in the building from 1931 through 1999. The Leafs won 11 Stanley Cup championships in that time.
The building has since been renovated since the sale. A grocery store is now on the level where the Maple Leafs rink was located. But as part of the renovations, a NHL-sized hockey rink with 2,700 seats was eventually built on the upper levels of the building.
Information from the PHF’s Paul Kroz included in this report.
