Game Recap: Colorado Select v. Edge School

Brittney Brooks makes a save

In the first grueling day of round robin competition, each team played in two games. Imagine that you just got off the ice from a full game two hours ago. Guess what? Now you have to play again, and play just as hard.

At 6:30 this evening, that's what the Edge School had to do after a tie earlier in the afternoon with Belle Tire. But yet they didn't seem to have lost any of their steam despite having finished the game at 4:00. They came out with a lot of firepower and didn't let up against the Colorado Select, ending up with a 6-2 win over the Select.

The Edge School dominated the first period, scoring four goals in the first period alone. Colorado goaltender Brittney Brooks was excellent, but didn't have much help from her defense, especially against the explosive Edge School offense.

Colorado's defense picked it up in the second period, and the period was dominated by a defensive battle between the two teams. It was the only period in which the Select outshot the Edge School (11-9). It seemed the Select were about to turn it around -- they did, but not quite enough. Alexandra Karlis and Shara Jasper scored for the Select in the third period, but the Edge School scored two more late in the game to eliminate any inkling of a Select comeback.

It might not be obvious from the score, but Colorado goaltender Brittney Brooks was fantastic. I chose to watch this game because I wanted to see more of her. And she didn't disappoint. Again she showed her athleticism, making yet another save in the splits, but it was a toe save in the third period that put my jaw on the floor.  

The initial stop was routine, but an Edge School player was waiting on the other side of the net for the rebound. Brooks quickly flung out her right leg to seal the hole in the corner of the net. Were she in the NHL, it would have been a highlight-reel save.

Soon after, she was able to stop a flurry of shots from the crease and ended up lying on top of the puck to get a whistle. Her play even moreso reminded me of Varlamov during that particular save, as there have been a couple times this season where the puck has ended up under his back. In addition to the several snappy glove saves Brooks made, I remain impressed by her talents.

I'll be attending several games tomorrow, look out for those recaps!

JWHL All Stars Show Their Star Quality

Walking into Kettler this evening, I didn't quite know what to expect. My experience with women's hockey starts and ends with my high school girls' hockey team. We were terrible; since there were only three high school girls' teams in the area including us, we were regularly beaten by embarrassing margins by boys in peewee leagues.

But once warmups began for the JWHL All-Star Game, I knew that this was on a whole different level.

Simply said, these girls are good.

The teams were divided into Team White and Team Dark. One team wore their individual team's white jerseys, and the other team wore their team's alternate jerseys (which were red, black, green, dark blue, depending on the team). The game was just two periods long for the sake of scheduling, with a very short intermission between the two periods.

Three of the four Challenge Cup participants that were part of the IIHF world women's U18 championship gold medal-winning Team USA were in the All-Star game (the fourth is on a team that has not yet arrived in DC). Despite an attempted comeback by Team Dark in the second period, Team White was victorious over Team Dark 5-4.

Though gold medal-winning goaltender Megan Miller finished up the game for Team White, it was Brittney Brooks, who played the first period, that made an impression to me.

Brooks, playing for the Colorado Select, is 6-4-2 this season with the Select, with a 2.63 GAA and .893 SV%. She reminds me of Semyon Varlamov; she's quick with her lateral movement in the crease, has great reflexes, and benefits from her flexibility (she made one save in the splits during the game). She allowed one goal, early in the game, and faced 13 shots.

In terms of forwards, when I signed up to cover the tournament, I was told about Haley Skarupa, a native of Rockville, MD. One of the scoring leaders in the IIHF Women's World U18 Championships, she is also the Captain of the hometown Washington Pride and has 33 goals this season -- in 18 games. Playing for Team Dark in the All-Star game, Skarupa racked up four assists (assisting on all Team Dark goals) and was awarded third star of the game. She's fast, a very smart skater, and puckhandles like a pro.

One more that deserves a mention is Amanda Pelkey, another member of the gold medal-winning Team USA. She is Jason Chimera-fast, no joke. Imagine Jason Chimera with Alexander Semin's puckhandling and you've got Pelkey. She is fancy on the skates, and is not only fast but incorporates her skillful skating with her keen ability to control the puck on her stick. It's no surprise that with her skill set, she was tied for first in scoring in the IIHF tournament.

After having seen the level of talent these young women have, the tournament should be an exciting one. Be sure to check the schedule and get to some games this weekend.  You'll be pleasantly surprised.