The 2017 IIHF Women’s World Championship Semifinals, USA vs. Germany: Game Time, How To Watch, and More

Everything went according to plan for the Americans in the preliminary round of the IIHF Women’s World Championships. Team USA handily beat every team they faced — including Canada, who were outshot 30-18 by Carp & Co.

The Canadians, on the other hand, were nearly forced to play a quarterfinal game after taking two losses (!) in the round robin, one to the USA and one to Finland. Team Canada is rewarded with a semifinal rematch against the Finns (#BCFinnterruption in full effect!), while the Americans get the far, far easier matchup against Germany.

2017 IIHF Women’s World Championships
The Semifinals

Date: Thursday, April 6th, 2017

Time: 7:30pm EDT

Watch: Live stream at NHL.com — no login required

Venue: USA Hockey Arena, Plymouth MI

Who:
United States (3-0-0)
vs. Germany (3-1-0)

American Eagles: The American roster consists of no fewer than six (6) current and former Boston College Eagles. That’s more than a quarter of the roster:

#16 Kelli Stack ‘11 (F)
#8 Emily Pfalzer ‘15 (D)
#25 Alex Carpenter ‘16 (F)
#11 Haley Skarupa ‘16 (F)
#6 Kali Flanagan ‘18 (D)
#5 Megan Keller ‘18 (D)

What’s At Stake: The winner earns a spot in the gold medal game against the winner of Canada vs. Finland — the result of which is far from a foregone conclusion.

Big Questions: The Americans haven’t played since Monday, when the Finns gave them a run for their money in the final preliminary game — will they be rusty or rested? Can the Germans pull of a colossal upset to send Team USA to the bronze medal game? Will an Eagle finally score a goal? Will Megan Keller break anyone in half? Will Alex Rigsby (who has given up the only 3 goals the USA has allowed in this tournament) see the ice again?

Better Know An Eagle: Haley Skarupa ‘16

Haley Skarupa was probably best known for scoring the biggest goal in program history, slapping home the overtime winner against Clarkson in 2016 to send the 40-0-0 Eagles to their first-ever NCAA championship game.

Haley put up some pretty stupid numbers at BC, putting up a ridiculous 1.69 PPG over her four year career. While she was often overshadowed as Alex Carpenter’s linemate, Skarupa was just as critical to BC’s success. After being snubbed for the 2014 Olympics — something that is not likely to happen again — and being left behind at BC while Carpenter sent to Sochi, Skarupa kept up her torrid scoring pace going 25-16—41 in 33 games.

These days she’s continuing to show why she’s an international superstar, going 11-11—22 in 16 games for the struggling Connecticut Whale — good for 3rd in the NWHL in points, despite not playing for a top team.

Random, Possibly Incorrect Fact From Our Opponent’s Wikipedia Page: GERMANY

There is no tuition at most of the German public universities, including for international students. What the hell, man?!

Game Day Snack: German Fries

Canada’s game day snack was Not Poutine, because poutine — french fries covered in gravy and cheese curds — looks pretty gross (and deadly, for that matter). In that spirit, today’s game day snack is Definitely German Fries.

German fries, according to wikipedia, are:

a preparation of fries in which potatoes are sliced into uniform sizes and shapes, fried or deep fried, and sometimes prepared with additional cooked ingredients such as onion, green pepper and bacon.

That sounds delicious — especially bacon, good job Germany — and also not nearly as likely to kill you.

Wash it down with your bier of choice.

Game Day Song: Dschinghis Khan — Moskau

If you’ve never seen this video... well, sorry, it’ll be seared into your brain for the rest of your life now. It’s some German pop group singing (and dancing) their (apparently) famous song “Moskau,” which is about, yes, the city of Moscow. Bonus fact! Germany actually defeated the Russians in the quarterfinals to get to this game, so it works perfectly.

There’s nothing else really to say about this video except that it’s bizarre and mesmerizing and you are unable to stop watching it once you start.

Germany, man.

There’s no beating around the bush here — if the American’s somehow manage to not win this game, it would be probably the biggest upset in the history of women’s ice hockey. Expect Team USA to dominate and comfortably earn their spot in the gold medal game on Friday.