Women’s Hockey Update: September 4th, 2017

Statue in Astana, Kazakhstan, of Tomiris (or Tomyris), the sixth-century B.C. queen of the Massagetae, who dwelt in what is now Central Asia.  According to legend, Queen Tomiris defeated and killed the Persian emperor Cyrus the Great in battle.  And this week’s update features some interesting news about the women’s hockey team that now bears her name!  (Image Source)

We are just 12 days away from the opening of the 2017-18 Women’s Hockey League season; the full schedule was released a couple of weeks ago.  The new campaign opens on September 16th, when defending champions Tornado Moscow Oblast host Dynamo St. Petersburg; the latter team finished third in 2016-17, and very definitely has some title aspirations this time around.

The seven teams in the league will play 24 regular-season games this time, down — due primarily to the Olympics — from the 36 of last season.  However, 2017-18 will also see the first-ever playoffs in the Women’s Hockey League!  The top four teams will make the post-season and contest the championship, with that all starting in early April of 2018.

Read on, for some other news and notes from the last month or so in Russian women’s hockey!

(Image Source)

The Women’s Hockey League will be, for the coming season, composed of the same seven teams that contested the last two campaigns.  However, it appears that expansion is on the horizon!  In early August, KHL Vice-President Georgy Kobylyansky revealed that the Women’s Hockey League has a preliminary agreement with ZHK Tomiris Astana, the women’s team at KHL club Barys Astana, to join the circuit in 2018-19.  Tomiris were founded in 2013, and have finished as runners-up to Aisulu Almaty in the Kazakh Women’s League for the last several seasons.  The team also supplies a number of key players to the country’s women’s national squad.

There is obviously no confirmation of this yet, but it will be a story to keep an eye on this year.  In the meantime, players from Tomiris (and perhaps other Kazakh league clubs) will join the WHL stars at the KHL’s All-Star Week festivities in the Kazakh capital this coming January.

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Mariya Sorokina. (Image source)

There was a familiar name selected at the 2017 Canadian Women’s Hockey League draft, which was held on August 20th.  Goalie (and kitten-rescuer) Mariya Sorokina, of Dynamo St. Petersburg and the Russian women’s national team, was selected in the 10th round by the Markham Thunder.  It should be an excellent selection, as Sorokina posted a .926 sv% for Dynamo in 2016-17, best among goalies who played at least 600 minutes.  Sorokina will be one of two Russian players in the CWHL, alongside Calgary Inferno forward Iya Gavrilova.

Another player of note selected in the CWHL draft was Kazakh forward Bulbul Kartanbayeva, captain of the above-mentioned Tomiris Astana.  Her story is a good one, and I refer you to The Ice Garden for more details on that!  Kartanbayeva was selected in the third round of the draft by the Boston Blades.

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The Russian women’s senior national team kicked off the Olympic season in late August by playing a four-team tournament in Sweden (roster here).  The results were not what the coaching staff would have hoped for; Team Russia came third, with a 1-2 record.  The Russians did exact some revenge for this past spring’s World Championship against Team Germany, posting a 3-1 victory, but fell to Finland (3-1) and Sweden (3-2).  Agidel Ufa’s Olga Sosina had a good tournament, scoring three goals and adding an assist.  Those totals placed Sosina second in tournament scoring, behind Finland’s Michelle Karvinen.

Nadezhda Alexandrova (Tornado Moscow Oblast) and Valeriya Tarakanova (SKIF Nizhny Novgorod) handled the goaltending chores.  Alexandrova was between the posts for the two losses, but played well, while Tarakanova got the win against Germany.  Third-string goalie Valeriya Merkusheva of Dynamo St. Petersburg did not see any playing time on this occasion.

The national team’s next action will come in early October when it hosts the Japanese women’s national side for a series of exhibition games.  In mid-October, Team Russia will travel to the U.S. to take on clubs from the National Women’s Hockey League.

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The Under-18 Women’s National Team also got its first taste of game action last month, travelling to Calgary for Hockey Canada’s Summer Showcase event.  A split-squad Canadian Under-18 team was the opposition, and they proved too much for the Russian U18ers on this occasion.  Canada Black downed Team Russia 7-0 in the opener of the series, but coach Yevgeny Bobariko’s crew made some amends with a much closer second match, a 2-1 loss to Canada Red.  The third game of the series, against the combined Team Canadas, ended 5-1 in the Canadians’ favour.

Anastasiya Yakubiva (#24 at right) celebrates a U16 national team goal with team-mate Tatyana Pankratova. (Image Source)

Despite the losses, there were some bright spots to be found.  Goalie Anna Alpatova, who signed with Tornado Moscow Oblast last month after a standout performance for Russia’s Under-16 team at the European Championship this spring, was once again very good.  Against Canada Red, she made 37 saves, and nearly stole a win all by herself.  Another alumna of the U16 squad, forward Anastasiya Yakubiva, also caught attention with a goal and an assist.  Yakubiva plays her club hockey in the Women’s Hockey League, for SK Sverdlovsk Oblast, and, along Alpatova, should be regular contributor to the Under-18 team for the next couple of years.

The Under-18 nationals are back at work again, with today’s opening of a training camp in Novogorsk (the you can see the camp roster here).  The team will play three games against the Finnish U18 women, with the first of those coming on September 11th.

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One final note about Under-18 women’s hockey.  I mentioned here a few months ago that the 2018 U18 Women’s Worlds would be held in Nizhny Novgorod.  Well, there has been a change of plans.  Russia will still host the tournament, but the venue will be Tornado’s home rink in Dmitrov, just north of Moscow.  No reason for the switch has been given.

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And that’s it for this week!  As we gear up for the new season, it is my intention to make Monday “women’s hockey blogging day” around here, although certainly there will be related posts on other days if events warrant.  Next Monday, we will have a preview of the 2017-18 Women’s Hockey League season, with significant player comings-and-goings, and recap of what each of the league’s teams got up to during its pre-season preparations.  Thank you for reading!