Volume 3 Issue 9 | April 2019
2019 Illinois Girls America's Showcase Team
By Anita Lichterman, AHAI Girls Committee Chair
America’s Showcase is all about hockey players having an opportunity to be seen by college coaches and scouts. This year’s Team (click HERE for roster) showed just how great these young women really are both on and off the ice. A rocky start against Minnesota White had the team skating hard and not giving up. Our team dinner and team building activity were next and something began to change…our next game against Colorado was hard fought and our first goal of the Showcase scored.
2019 USA HOCKEY NATIONAL CHAMPIONS
The Mission Continues
By Harry Thompson - As her teammates celebrated all around her, Chicago Mission goaltender Sam Steciak embraced head coach Erin Rourke. It was a fitting moment after the effort Steciak put into backstopping her team to its second straight 16U title at the 2019 Chipotle-USA Hockey Girls Tier I National Championships. “I just thanked her and told her ‘you just won that game, kiddo,’” Rourke said of her goaltender’s 13-save performance against an offensively gifted Rochester Youth Hockey club.
2019 USA Hockey Nationals Notebook

There were a total of 5 Illinois Girls teams competing for National Championship titles this year.
Tier I Girls
Chicago Mission 14U
Chicago Mission 16U
Chicago Mission 19U
Tier I Girls
Chicago Young Americans 14U

Tier II Girls
Northshore Warhawks
All 5 Illinois Girls teams advanced out of pool play and into their respective quarterfinal rounds. The Chicago Mission 14U, Chicago Mission 16U and the Chicago Mission 19U teams bested their quarterfinal opponents to advance to the semifinals. Chicago Mission 14U fell to Little Caesars in the semis and the Mission 19U Girls dropped their semifinal round game to the Boston Jr. Eagles in a heartbreaking 2-3 OT loss. The Mission 16U Girls defeated their semifinal opponent, the Bay State Breakers, 7-5 to advance to the National Championship tilt where they successfully defended their 2018 National Championship Title.

Congratulations to all our young ladies on a very successful Nationals!
AHAI AFFILIATE LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE
2019 AHAI Affiliate Leadership Conference Set for June 1st
AHAI will hold its annual gathering of all our Affiliates throughout the state on Saturday, June 1, 2019 at the Westin Chicago Northwest in Itasca, Illinois.

The conference is designed to educate Affiliate leaders as well as allow AHAI to hear from our members on a variety of topics which include girls hockey, player development, rules and ethics issues, referee retention, goaltender development, and club communications and social media to name just a few.

We encourage all Affiliate board members and hockey directors to save the date. More information and registration will be coming soon.
GIRLS HIGH SCHOOL HEADLINES
Fenwick Rallies Past New Trier for First Girls Varsity Title
By Austin Siegel - Fenwick scored three unanswered goals, including a penalty shot from Ellie Kaiser, as the Friars defeated New Trier 3-2 on Friday, March 22nd, to claim their first Illinois State High School Hockey Championship, presented by Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana Chevy Dealers.
Metro Girls League Crowns 2019 Champions
Fenwick
Scholastic Cup Champions
Lake Forest High School
Founders Cup Champions
ILLINOIS HEADLINES
Blackhawks Debut Hockey Program Just for Girls
The Blackhawks locker room is busting at the seams with pony tails and hot fuschia laces as a squad of young players prepares to take to the ice.

They're the first to join the new all-girl "Little Blackhawks" program, a first for girls so young their skates swing high above the bench at M.B. Ice Arena.
USA HOCKEY HEADLINES
U.S. Wins Shootout for Fifth Straight Women’s Worlds Gold
By USA Hockey - The U.S. defeated Finland, 2-1, in a shootout here tonight in the gold-medal game of the of the 2019 IIHF Women’s World Championship, claiming its fifth consecutive world championship gold medal and the program’s eighth in the last nine tournaments.  
With the game tied 1-1 after overtime, the game went to a five-player shootout. Amanda Kessel (Madison, Wis.) and Annie Pankowski (Laguna Hills, Calif.) scored in the first two rounds of the shootout. The Pankowski goal proved to be the difference as Alex Rigsby (Delafield, Wis.) made the final stop to secure gold for the U.S.