Dam Good: Healey heats up for HV71

Before this past weekend’s action, HV71 defender Jessica Healey had a modest two assists in her first seven games of the 2020-21 season. For many defenders that would be a perfectly fine start, but we have come to expect greatness from Healey after she put up at 53 total points in her first two seasons of SDHL action. This weekend, the Canadian star delivered in a big way.

After picking up an assist on Friday in HV71’s surprising loss at the hands of AIK on Saturday, Healey scored her first two goals of the season on Sunday in a 4-0 win over SDE. Given Healey’s own talents and the abilities of the players around her, the production was all but inevitable, but it must feel good to get those first two goals out of the way.

Oh, and we need to take a moment to appreciate the pass by Sidney Morin that led to Healey’s first goal of the year. Behold. This kind of thing just isn’t fair.

Healey won a gold with Canada at the 2014 IIHF U18 Women’s Worlds and played her college hockey at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. Of course, the bulk of HV71’s blue line offense is generated by Morin, but opposing teams can’t overlook the threat that her defense partner poses. She ranks fifth on HV71 in shots on goal (24), which is quite a feat for a defense-first blueliner.

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Three Crowns

Here are three performances worthy of hardware from the last week of SDHL action.

1. Madelen Haug Hansen scored back-to-back goals in 43 seconds in the second period of Linköping’s 5-3 victory over Brynäs on Friday. The goals were Haug Hansen’s second and third of the season. Linköping’s Norwegian captain is now just two goals shy of her total from last year. This is her ninth consecutive season with the club.
2. Jule Flötgen’s club, AIK, was out-shot 42 to 13 by HV71 but she made 40 stops to secure an unlikely 3-2 victory. Needless to say, that win had a lot to do with the German netminder, who is off to an outstanding start this year. Flötgen has a .931 Sv% in six appearances and has two of AIK’s three wins this year. AIK’s other goalie, Sabina Eriksson, has an .891 Sv%.
3. HV71’s Alba Gonzalo stopped all 38 shots she faced, including the 30 she stopped in 4-0 shutout over SDE on Sunday. That was Gonzalo’s second clean slate of the season. She’s riding an impressive .926 Sv% and a 1.95 GAA. She’s currently sixth in the league in total saves (162) and is fourth in the league minutes played (399:59).

Standings as of 10/13