Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/1514026
36 // JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024 USAHOCKEYMAGAZINE.COM Home Arenas: Total Mortgage Arena (Bridgeport, Conn.) & UBS Arena (Belmont Park, N.Y.) General Manager: Pascal Daoust Coach: Howie Draper American Players: Alex Carpenter, Alexa Gruschow, Paetyn Levis, Abbey Levy, Savannah Norcross, Madison Packer, Abby Roque, Olivia Zafuto. New York is banking on the aggressive, game-changing offense provided by Abby Roque and Alex Carpenter. Carpenter, the 2015 Patty Kazmaier Award winner, is quick and deft with some of the best hands in the game while weaving around defenses and finding space where no one else can. She's smart and adaptable and able to quickly make connections with her linemates while maintaining her laser- like ability to pick her spot and put the puck in the back of the net. Roque, the 2020 USA Hockey Bob Allen Women's Hockey Player of the Year, is a feisty and physical forward. She claims her spot on the ice and then doesn't often concede it. Stellar in the faceoff dot, Roque is crucial to her team being able to maintain possession and set up plays. Home Arenas: Verdun Auditorium (Montreal, Quebec) & Place Bell (Laval, Quebec) General Manager: Danièle Sauvageau Coach: Kori Cheverie American Players: Madison Bizal, Jillian Dempsey, Mariah Keopple, Maureen Murphy. Americans Maureen Murphy and Jillian Dempsey bring a touch of Boston to Montreal. Murphy is a recent graduate of Northeastern University. She finished last season seventh in the country in scoring with 20 goals and 35 assists in 33 games played and was named a Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award top-10 finalist as well as Beanpot MVP. Dempsey, a Winthrop, Mass., native, graduated from Harvard and spent nine seasons playing professionally, first with the CWHL Boston Blades (where she won a Clarkson Cup) and then the NWHL/PHF Boston Pride. Dempsey won three Isobel Cups and ranked first in PHF history for regular sea- son points (146), goals (70), assists (76), and games (142). Abbey Levy Maureen Murphy Jincy Roese Home Arena: The Arena at TD Place (Ottawa, Ontario) General Manager: Michael Hirshfeld Coach: Carla MacLeod American Players: Amanda Boulier, Becca Gilmore, Savannah Harmon, Gabbie Hughes, Jincy Roese, Hayley Scamurra, Natalie Snodgrass. Expect American women to have an immediate impact for Ottawa with Jincy Roese and Savannah Harmon bringing size and offensive depth to their blue line and Becca Gilmore and Gabbie Hughes adding their talents to the offense. Gilmore was the 2022 Ivy League Player of the Year at Harvard and Hughes was a top-3 finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Award that same year. Both won gold medals with U.S. Women's National Team at the 2023 IIHF Women's World Championship. Harmon and Roese are each shut down defenders who read the puck well, are great at angling a forward away and add depth on offense with a strong shot from the blue line and good instincts on when to sneak in and snipe the puck.