2010-11 National Women's Under-18 Team

KOSTA’S HAT TRICK LIFTS CANADA TO 8-1 WIN OVER GERMANY AT U18 WOMEN’S TOURNAMENT

STOCKHOLM, Sweden – Nicole Kosta (Mississauga, Ont.) recorded a hat trick to help Canada book its ticket to the semifinals of the 2010 IIHF World Women’s Under-18 Championship with an 8-1 victory over Germany on Tuesday.

Sarah MacDonnell (Quispamsis, N.B.) added a pair of power play goals and an assist, and nine players contributed at least one point to the score sheet, as the Canadians finished the preliminary round undefeated.

“We've controlled a lot of the play,'' MacDonnell said. “We like to have this kind of confidence going into every game and just work hard and do our best, and it's paid off so far.”

Sarah Edney (Mississauga, Ont.), Gina Repaci (Etobicoke, Ont.) and Laura Stacey (Kleinburg, Ont,) added singles, while Amanda Makela (Thunder Bay, Ont.) got the win in goal with 11 saves.

Jacqueline Janzen scored the lone German goal.

The Canadians opened the tournament Saturday with a 9-1 rout of Switzerland, then blanked Finland 6-0 the next day.

“I think we're getting better every day,'' MacDonnell said. “Everyone is really coming together as a team, especially since we're all from different parts of the country. We didn't know each other.

“But we're starting to really trust each other, we trust each other to make the right plays and make the right passes, we're really clicking and that really helps on the bench and in the dressing room, and it's going to really help us in the long run."

In other games Tuesday, Finland beat Switzerland 4-1, the Czech Republic defeated Japan 4-1, and the U.S. routed Sweden 10-0.

The U.S. is expected to be Canada's toughest opponent at the tournament, and MacDonnell said she and her teammates drew inspiration from Canada's 4-1 win over the U.S. at the 2011 World Junior Championship on Monday night.

“When we woke up (Tuesday) morning, seeing that they had won, (and) everyone was in a good mood because of that and obviously you want to mirror what they did to the U.S.,” she said. “Hopefully if we make it that far in the tournament, we want to do the same thing that they did. We can learn a lot from watching them play.”

Canada plays in the semifinals Friday. They'll face the winner of the quarter-final between Finland and Sweden.

Penalties:
   04:45 CAN 19 Nicole Kosta (Tripping)
   10:48 GER 9 Rebecca Graeve (Bodychecking)

Penalties:
   01:18 GER 9 Rebecca Graeve (Bodychecking)
   06:45 CAN 19 Nicole Kosta (Cross Checking)
   07:45 GER 26 Valerie Offermann (Slashing)
   09:45 GER 19 Marie Delarbre (Slashing)
   09:45 CAN 23 Gina Repaci (Interference)
   10:09 CAN 12 Shelby Bram (Interference)
   10:33 GER 9 Rebecca Graeve (High Sticking)
   10:41 GER 22 Daria Gleissner (Delay of Game)
   17:35 CAN 12 Shelby Bram (Slashing)

Penalties:
   02:49 GER 22 Daria Gleissner (Slashing)
   05:32 GER 21 Theresa Fritz (Bodychecking)
   08:14 GER 28 Kerstin Spielberger (Slashing)
   10:27 CAN 24 Hailey Browne (Hooking)
   12:49 GER 10 Karina Port (Tripping)
   17:40 GER 14 Bianca Laggerbauer (Tripping)