A Vermonter and one of the best college hockey players in state history is heading to the Olympic games in South Korea.
Amanda Pelkey of Montpelier has been selected to compete for the U.S. Olympic women's hockey team, an announcement that was expected but was made official yesterday as the National Hockey League held its annual outdoor Winter Classic. Pelkey graduated from the University of Vermont in 2015 and did so as the all-time women's leader in points amassing 105 49 goals and 56 assists over her outstanding UVM career.
On the men's side, another UVM grad will skate for team USA, which will not have any participation from professional players for the first time since 1994. Former Catamounts defenseman Ryan Gunderson, who played for UVM from 2003 to 2007 made the team, the sixth former Catamount to play for the U.S.
As for that NHL outdoor classic, it was a pretty good contest between the Buffalo Sabres and NY Rangers playing hockey in a baseball stadium. The game was held at Citi Field in Queens, home of the NY Mets when it's not sixteen degrees at game time and with a wind chill that forecasters said made it feel more like minus three. The wind was so much a factor that the two squads were forced to change ends of the ice a number of times before the end of the period so one team wouldn't have more time with the wind at their backs than the other.
The Rangers jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals by Paul Carey and Michael Grabner, but the Sabres fought back and tied the game on tallies by Rasmus Ristolainen and Sam Reinhart and a five minute three on three overtime was necessary to decide the winner, but it became a four on three for the Rangers when Buffalo's Jacob Josefson was sent to the penalty box for tripping Jimmy Vesey, and not long after that the Ranger's J.T. Miller collected a rebound in the crease after a shot by defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk and the Rangers scored a 3-2 win in front of 40,000 or so fans, most of them cheering for the Rangers despite the fact that the Sabres were technically the home team for a game held in a New York City borough instead of in upstate New York.
There was a pretty good college football game yesterday in the much warmer environs of Pasadena, California, where the Georgia Bulldogs and Oklahoma Sooners played the first ever Rose Bowl game decided in overtime. In fact, it took two overtime periods before Georgia emerged victorious 54-48 when senior Sony Michel dashed 27 yards for the winning touchdown. It was retribution for Michel, who almost fumbled the game away for the Bulldogs when he coughed up the ball in the fourth quarter on a play that led to a go-ahead touchdown for Oklahoma, but his team rallied to send the game to overtime, and his winning TD run was one of three he had on the day in a stunning 181 yard performance.
The win puts the Bulldogs into the national championship game next Monday against Alabama.
